Please note: SUBMISSIONS FOR 2019 ARE CLOSED; WE HAVE ACCEPTED 350 SUBMISSIONS AS OF JANUARY 16, 2019.
Every summer Capital Stage presents professional staged readings of new works through our new works festival PLAYWRIGHTS’ REVOLUTION. We seek submissions for new plays from December 1 – February 28.
Playwrights and Agents wishing to submit work should refer to our submission deadlines and criteria below.
Please note: Only submissions that follow the steps below will be accepted.
As Sacramento’s leader of bold, thought-provoking theatre, Capital Stage created the PLAYWRIGHTS’ REVOLUTION. This series of staged readings seeks to identify and develop exciting new plays and playwrights. These new works are brought to theatrical life through a series of staged readings performed by professional actors in Capital Stage’s intimate theatre. Capital Stage invites audiences to take part in the new play development process by attending readings and participating in post-reading discussion.
Qualifications
Capital Stage is particularly interested in plays that fulfill our mission to bring bold, thought-provoking work to the region. Plays must be full-length in any genre: comedy, drama, etc. Musicals, 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
Capital Stage’s competitive selection process consists of two rounds of selection. The first 350 play excerpts submitted during the first round are reviewed. Then, selected playwrights are asked to provide a full manuscript of their play. Finally, Capital Stage invites 4 to 6 playwrights to have their work included in PLAYWRIGHTS’ REVOLUTION.
Preference will be given to those plays that are aligned with Capital Stage’s mission to bring bold, thought-provoking work to our community.
How to Apply
Step 1. Complete the online submission form to provide Capital Stage with information about the playwright and the play.
Step 2. Email your script sample to literarymanager@capstage.org. In order to be accepted, your script sample must be submitted as a single PDF file that meets the following requirements.
File name must be “Author Last Name_Title of Play”
The first page(s) of the file must include: Title of play, character breakdown and descriptions, synopsis of the play
The following pages must be a 10-page sample of the play
DO NOT include the full name of the author on any pages
Please note: Agents submitting on behalf of a playwright may submit full-length manuscripts following these same instructions.
Some recommendations from our literary manager: Make sure that your synopsis sets the reader up to understand what is going on in your sample. Remember that the reader only has this synopsis and the ten pages that you provide to get to know your work, and that is difficult to do if they are confused about the plot. Also, make sure you are submitting the best ten pages of your work! The sample does not need to be the first ten pages of the play; you should select whichever 10-page section you think presents the best argument for why we should want to read the whole thing.
2019 Deadline: Submissions will be accepted only from December 1, 2018 – February 28, 2019. Local, national, and international playwrights are encouraged to submit. Only the first 350 submissions will be accepted.
Thank you for your interest!