South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, CA, is now accepting applications for its 13th Annual Hispanic Playwrights Project. Playwrights of Latin ancestry are invited to submit full-length, unproduced, non-musical scripts written in English. The deadline for submissions is Jan. 15, 1998.

Writers who are chosen to participate in the project will be notified by March 13, 1998, and will participate in a pre-conference on April 25 and 26. They will then attend a two-week workshop in June that will end with staged readings of the author's plays.

The Hispanic Playwrights Project was founded in 1986. Since that time, 50 Hispanic writers have participated in the project and more than half of the plays that were given readings went on to receive productions at theatres across the country.

The playwrighting project is directed by South Coast Rep's artistic associate Juliette Carrillo, the director of SCR's current Second Stage production, Sidney Bechet Killed a Man, which runs through Nov. 30.

To receive complete guidelines for the Hispanic Playwrights Project, call (714) 708-5500, ext. 5405. -- By Rebecca Paller