Accepting submissions for the American Stage’s 21st Century Voices: 2019 New Play Festival April 15 through June 15, 2018
American Stage is committed to producing powerful and relevant professional live theatre. Our 21st Century Voices is an initiative dedicated to developing and presenting new works for the stage that speak to a contemporary audience in fresh and compelling ways. 21st Century Voices programming includes an annual staged reading festival, workshopping of new scripts, playwriting residencies and fully produced new plays receiving one of their first three professional productions at American Stage.
This year we are seeking submissions of new plays that promote the exploration of themes relevant to our world today, featuring characters who inspire us. Submissions will be accepted between April 15 and June 15.
Submission guidelines for the American Stage’s 21st Century Voices: 2019 New Play Festival are as follows:
- Plays must be full-length in any genre: comedy, drama, musical, etc.
- Translations, collections of one-acts, children’s plays and any play that has received a full-scale, professional production prior to submission are not eligible.
- Plays that have had a workshop, reading or non-professional production are still eligible.
- Only one submission per playwright is allowed each year.
The Selection Process
American Stage’s competitive selection process consists of two rounds of selection. All 10-page play excerpts submitted during the first round are reviewed by a committee of theatre artists and arts advocates. In the second round, selected playwrights are asked to provide a full manuscript of their play for consideration by the committee. Finally, American Stage invites four to five playwrights to have their work included in 21st Century Voices: New Play Festival in January 2019.
Playwrights invited to participate in our 21st Century Voices: New Play Festival will receive a $250 fee and will be provided a $250 travel stipend.
How to Apply
Email your complete submission package to 21stCenturyVoices@americanstage.org between April 15-June 15, 2018.
Complete submission packages must include:
- Your contact information;
- Your playwriting resume;
- A concise paragraph (no longer than 1 page) describing the development history of the play you are submitting;
- A statement describing why your play is a good fit for American Stage’s 21st Century Voices’ mission to develop and present powerful plays that speak to a contemporary audience in a fresh and compelling way;
- Title of the play;
- Character breakdown and description; please include total number of characters
- Time and place of the play;
- Synopsis (no longer than 1 page); and
- A ten page sample of the play.
Full manuscripts and incomplete submission packages will not be considered.
2018-2019 Deadlines
For consideration in our 21st Century Voices: 2019 New Play Festival, American Stage is accepting submissions from April 15 – June 15, 2018. Requests for full manuscripts will be made by August 1, 2018.
Only completed submission packages emailed to 21stCenturyVoices@americanstage.org by June 15, 2018 will be considered.
Thank you for your interest!