The Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists

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Amas Musical Theatre's The Eric H. Weinberger Award for Emerging Librettists is a juried cash and production grant to be given annually to support the early work and career of a deserving musical theatre librettist. It commemorates the life and work of playwright/librettist Eric H. Weinberger (1950-2017), who was a Drama Desk Award nominee for Best Book of a Musical (Wanda’s World,) and the playwright/librettist of Class Mothers ’68, which earned Pricilla Lopez a Drama Desk Award nomination.

The winner will receive $2,000 to help pay cost-of-living expenses and will receive development assistance in our 2019 New Works Development Program.

Submissions open on September 13, 2018 and will close November 30, 2018. All submissions must be sent through an online application that canbe found at tinyurl.com/AmasWeinbergerAward.

Only one submission per playwright/librettists will be accepted. The winner will be announced at the Amas Musical Theatre's 50th Anniversary Benefit Event, April 1, 2019.

Submission Requirements

The musical must:

• Be a full-length show (at least 80 minutes)
• Have no more than seven actors  (actors may play multiple roles)
• Be complete and ready for readings, workshops and/or productions
• Have a demo that is an accurate representation of the music and style of the show (at least five songs)
• Have full underlying rights clearance of any pre-existing material used in the script (music, source material, etc.)
• Not have had a full production or be published in any way, even if with a different name.

What to submit

All documents must be submitted as PDF files and they should be named with the part of the submission it refers to and the title of the show in the format of PART_TITLE, i.e.: for Tea for Three; BIO_TEA-FOR-THREE, SYNOPSIS_TEA-FOR-THREE, etc.

1. Biography and resumes of all contractually attached people such as composer, director, producer to the project
2. History of the submission’s development, and any previous titles it has gone through (if applicable, maximum one page)
3. Brief synopsis (maximum 150 words)
4. Brief artistic statement on the piece itself, including all source material, inspiration, goal, message, etc. (maximum one page)
5. Proof of rights (if applicable)
6. Demo and track listings (Demo selections to be posted as a Dropbox link)
7. PDF document of the full-script and sheet music, if available

Guidelines for Materials

All submissions must adhere to the following or your application will be disqualified before reaching our selection committee.

Proof of Rights

If the musical contains any copyrighted material, please submit a signed letter from the authors and/or underlying rights representative stating that underlying rights have been secured.

Full Script

1. The full script must include:
2. Title page (which should only have the title on it and absolutely no other information)
3. Character breakdown (maximum one page)
4. The complete script with page numbers

For the anonymity of your submission, the full script and sheet music cannot include any information on playwright/ librettist or contractually attached people, previous casts, or any agents. All submissions will go through a blind evaluation process, any personal information you provide will only be available to Amas Musical Theatre staff.

Demo Tracks

• The recording should be a significant representation of the songs in the show that accurately highlights the style and character of the score and lyrics.
• Demo tracks should:

1. Include at least one song from the first 25 pages
2. Have at least five recordings available – they do not need to be professional or studio quality but they must be clear enough to hear lyrics, melody, and accompaniment
3. Have singers of appropriate vocal types for their respective roles
4. Be full songs only, no medleys of spliced songs

For the anonymity of your submission, tracks cannot include any personal identifiers for playwright/librettist(s), the performers recorded, or contractually attached people.


The Winner

1. Will receive $2,000 to help pay for cost-of-living expenses.
2. Will receive development assistance in the 2019 New Works Development Program of Amas Musical Theatre.
3. Will have the selected show rehearsed and performed by New York theatre professionals in an Amas Lab production.
4. Must be present in New York City for the development process.
5. Must give the right of first refusal for a world premiere of the selected show that will expire 90 days after Amas Musical Theatre presents the Lab production.