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To maximize your chance of selection, please read all the guidelines carefully before submitting.
At MadLab, we love reading new full length plays and we desperately want to read yours!
The nitty gritty about submitting your brilliant baby to the Lab:
All submissions should be sent to submissions@MadLab.net. Please use “MadLab 2019 Season” as your subject.
We’re not picky about what format your script is in (though the standard Dramatist’s Modern Stage Play format is most welcome), so send us what you got as a Word or PDF attachment. Do not send us links to anything - we’re not going to click them.
Please be sure to include your name, address and contact information on your title page.
The submission window opens 3/13/19 and closes when we receive 500 submissions.
Season decisions will be made by the end of 2019. While we would love to follow up with every playwright individually, we receive too many submissions to make this happen. If you don’t hear from us, we’re sorry and please submit again in the future.
We are only accepting 500 submissions with a maximum of 2 plays per playwright.
Plays should have a run time no shorter than 70 minutes and no longer than 2 hours 15 minutes.
Please do not send us 45 page 1-acts or that 200 page beast you’ve been tinkering on for the last five years. They will not be read.
We are currently not accepting Children’s Theatre pieces, One Act Collections or Musicals. Not that we don’t appreciate them, they’re just not up our alley right now.
Please proofread your script before sending it to us. We hate to be “those people”, but nothing will get your script put down faster than a your/you’re or a to/too typo.
You will be Paid! MadLab currently pays playwrights $200 up front and 10% of ticket sales payable after close of show.
“But what are you looking for?”
What makes a play a “MadLab” play? Like obscenity, it’s hard to define, but we know it and love it when we see it. Here’s a few tips as to what we like to produce and what our audiences have come to expect:
Plays with a strong Point of View. Our audiences expect to not only be entertained for an evening, but to leave the theatre with something to think about and remember. We want to read plays from and for the marginalized and forgotten. We love new takes on old problems. We adore speaking Truth to Power.
Good Stories with Vibrant Characters. Now, any play can have that strong POV, but the special ones show us that through strong storytelling and equally strong characters. So, mesmerize us with your craft and enchant us with your characters. Bonus points for well written female characters and casts that give an accurate representation of our multiracial society, as well as those that challenge the concept of binary sexuality. We’re not saying we won’t produce your play about 10 white suburban dads and their annual golf outing, but…
Plays that are Visual. Ok, we’ll be completely honest – we are on a shoestring budget as far as sets/costumes go, but we’ve been doing this for 20+ years and we love an artistic challenge. MadLab is a 75 seat converted garage black box theatre, so plan accordingly. But challenge us. You’d probably be surprised what we’re capable of.
Plays that are modern. We definitely respect your historical masterpiece, but if your play involves iambic pentameter or greek gods it’s probably not our speed.
Make us Laugh. We’ve been told we have an “offbeat” sense of humor. We’ve also been told we may require psychological counseling. Be bold in your comedy writing, don’t worry about offending us (or our audiences), and never be afraid of being silly.
Make us Cry. See above.
Heck, do both with the same play. Always the best option to our way of thinking☺
Thanks for your interest. Good luck with your submission, and regardless of the outcome here, be sure to keep writing and producing new works.
To maximize your chance of selection, please read all the guidelines carefully before submitting.
At MadLab, we love reading new full length plays and we desperately want to read yours!
The nitty gritty about submitting your brilliant baby to the Lab:
All submissions should be sent to submissions@MadLab.net. Please use “MadLab 2019 Season” as your subject.
We’re not picky about what format your script is in (though the standard Dramatist’s Modern Stage Play format is most welcome), so send us what you got as a Word or PDF attachment. Do not send us links to anything - we’re not going to click them.
Please be sure to include your name, address and contact information on your title page.
The submission window opens 3/13/19 and closes when we receive 500 submissions.
Season decisions will be made by the end of 2019. While we would love to follow up with every playwright individually, we receive too many submissions to make this happen. If you don’t hear from us, we’re sorry and please submit again in the future.
We are only accepting 500 submissions with a maximum of 2 plays per playwright.
Plays should have a run time no shorter than 70 minutes and no longer than 2 hours 15 minutes.
Please do not send us 45 page 1-acts or that 200 page beast you’ve been tinkering on for the last five years. They will not be read.
We are currently not accepting Children’s Theatre pieces, One Act Collections or Musicals. Not that we don’t appreciate them, they’re just not up our alley right now.
Please proofread your script before sending it to us. We hate to be “those people”, but nothing will get your script put down faster than a your/you’re or a to/too typo.
You will be Paid! MadLab currently pays playwrights $200 up front and 10% of ticket sales payable after close of show.
“But what are you looking for?”
What makes a play a “MadLab” play? Like obscenity, it’s hard to define, but we know it and love it when we see it. Here’s a few tips as to what we like to produce and what our audiences have come to expect:
Plays with a strong Point of View. Our audiences expect to not only be entertained for an evening, but to leave the theatre with something to think about and remember. We want to read plays from and for the marginalized and forgotten. We love new takes on old problems. We adore speaking Truth to Power.
Good Stories with Vibrant Characters. Now, any play can have that strong POV, but the special ones show us that through strong storytelling and equally strong characters. So, mesmerize us with your craft and enchant us with your characters. Bonus points for well written female characters and casts that give an accurate representation of our multiracial society, as well as those that challenge the concept of binary sexuality. We’re not saying we won’t produce your play about 10 white suburban dads and their annual golf outing, but…
Plays that are Visual. Ok, we’ll be completely honest – we are on a shoestring budget as far as sets/costumes go, but we’ve been doing this for 20+ years and we love an artistic challenge. MadLab is a 75 seat converted garage black box theatre, so plan accordingly. But challenge us. You’d probably be surprised what we’re capable of.
Plays that are modern. We definitely respect your historical masterpiece, but if your play involves iambic pentameter or greek gods it’s probably not our speed.
Make us Laugh. We’ve been told we have an “offbeat” sense of humor. We’ve also been told we may require psychological counseling. Be bold in your comedy writing, don’t worry about offending us (or our audiences), and never be afraid of being silly.
Make us Cry. See above.
Heck, do both with the same play. Always the best option to our way of thinking☺
Thanks for your interest. Good luck with your submission, and regardless of the outcome here, be sure to keep writing and producing new works.