“Undiscovered Country” has taken top honors in the Oswego Players 2026 Don J. McCann Memorial One-Act Play Writing Contest.
By Dana Leslie Goldstein, of Brooklyn, “Undiscovered Country” examines losing a loved one and how, through memories, lost love can be found. A panel of 15 volunteer judges praised it for its flow of dialog and richly developed characters. Goldstein receives a $250 cash prize.
Garnering a $150 second-place prize is Ben Dworken, of New York City, for “I Am Enough.” It’s a story of a young autistic man who struggles to conquer his inner insecurities before a big audition.
The $75 third-place prize is awarded to “All for a Buck,” by Keith Whalen, of Peekskill. Whalen’s play is about a son who discovers who his father truly was through his best friends.
All three plays will be produced by the Little Theatre by the Water on March 5-7, 2027, in the Frances Marion Brown Theatre at Fort Ontario Park. Presentations of the prize-winning plays in previous years have attracted sold-out audiences.
Volunteers in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., as well as in Oswego, evaluated a total of 100 submissions by writers from throughout New York state.
The contest readers narrowed 100 plays down to eight finalists and, from that group, they selected the three winners.
Other finalists were “Just Right” by Wesley Cappiello, “It’s All in the Game” by Ellen Abrams, and “A Christmas Message” by Charles Gelles, all of New York City; “On The First and Only Day of Christmas” by Ruben Carbajal, of Lansing; and “Poseidon and The Sea Nymph” by Scott C. Sickles, of Forest Hills.
“The Donald McCann Memorial One-Act Playwriting Contest has become a cornerstone in the Oswego Players’ mission to encourage and spotlight new voices in the world of theater. The organization’s dedication to fostering original plays remains as strong as ever,” said Norman Berlin III, Don McCann Playwriting Contest Coordinator.
The Oswego Players, founded in 1938, remains one of the oldest, continually active community theater groups in America.
Directors of the winning plays will be named soon, Berlin said. Tickets for the performances will go on sale in January. For information, call (315) 343-5138 or visit www.oswegoplayers.org.
# # #
The three prize winners of the 2026 Don McCann Playwriting Contest; from left to right, first place “Undiscovered Country” by Dana Leslie Goldstein of Brooklyn, second place “I Am Enough by Ben Dworken of New York City and third place “All for a Buck” by Keith Whalen of Peekskill.