Deadline: February 5, 2022
Submit a script via email, as a PDF or Word document, with the play’s title in the subject line, to ELTChicago@gmail.com
All Access is an ongoing reading series that began in 2015 with a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Its purpose is to promote new plays that bring to prominence narratives that are underrepresented in our culture's storytelling: to wit, plays that feature characters who are femme, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and/or PWD. The readings are rehearsed with an experienced director and performed by an all-Equity cast.
Equity Library Theatre-Chicago holds annual, open submissions; to date, we have read hundreds of scripts from across the country as well as England, Ireland, and Canada. To ensure that we have a continual rotation of viewpoints, each year at least half of our readers are new to the series, and our finalist readers select the winner through a blind read. Every playwright who submits receives our greatest admiration; the winning playwright also receives a $300 prize.
2022 Submission Guidelines
Equity Library Theatre Chicago is seeking submissions of new, full-length plays. One script will be selected and produced as a staged reading with an experienced director and an all-Equity cast; the playwright will also be awarded $300.*
Because this reading will be part of our ongoing All Access Series, in addition to overall excellence, we will give preference to plays with protagonists who are femme, BIPOC, people with disabilities, and/or LGBTQIA+.
You may submit a script via email, as a PDF or Word document, with the play’s title in the subject line, to ELTChicago@gmail.com January 5th - February 5th, 2022.
Please include a brief synopsis, character breakdown, development history, and contact information. We will accept scripts that have been submitted in past years. No submission fee.
*ELTC aims to produce the winning play's staged reading in 2022, but Covid precautions must be taken into consideration. The staged reading may occur in a variety of different ways - an outdoor venue in the summer of 2022, an indoor venue in the fall of 2022 if the state of affairs allows, or as part of a festival to be paired with the 2023 winner and performed in the summer or fall of that year. As it stands now, we are committed to the winning play receiving a live, in-person performance, and not a digital presentation, so we hope to be able to present it as soon as it is safe to do so.
All Access is an ongoing reading series that began in 2015 with a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Its purpose is to promote new plays that bring to prominence narratives that are underrepresented in our culture's storytelling: to wit, plays that feature characters who are femme, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and/or PWD. The readings are rehearsed with an experienced director and performed by an all-Equity cast.
Equity Library Theatre-Chicago holds annual, open submissions; to date, we have read hundreds of scripts from across the country as well as England, Ireland, and Canada. To ensure that we have a continual rotation of viewpoints, each year at least half of our readers are new to the series, and our finalist readers select the winner through a blind read. Every playwright who submits receives our greatest admiration; the winning playwright also receives a $300 prize.
2022 Submission Guidelines
Equity Library Theatre Chicago is seeking submissions of new, full-length plays. One script will be selected and produced as a staged reading with an experienced director and an all-Equity cast; the playwright will also be awarded $300.*
Because this reading will be part of our ongoing All Access Series, in addition to overall excellence, we will give preference to plays with protagonists who are femme, BIPOC, people with disabilities, and/or LGBTQIA+.
You may submit a script via email, as a PDF or Word document, with the play’s title in the subject line, to ELTChicago@gmail.com January 5th - February 5th, 2022.
Please include a brief synopsis, character breakdown, development history, and contact information. We will accept scripts that have been submitted in past years. No submission fee.
*ELTC aims to produce the winning play's staged reading in 2022, but Covid precautions must be taken into consideration. The staged reading may occur in a variety of different ways - an outdoor venue in the summer of 2022, an indoor venue in the fall of 2022 if the state of affairs allows, or as part of a festival to be paired with the 2023 winner and performed in the summer or fall of that year. As it stands now, we are committed to the winning play receiving a live, in-person performance, and not a digital presentation, so we hope to be able to present it as soon as it is safe to do so.
PLEASE NOTE: The $300 is attached to the selection of the play and not the performance.