Deadline: November 1, 2023
Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean University, will accept submissions of unproduced, unpublished full-length plays for the 2024 Premiere Play Festival from September 1, 2023 - November 1, 2023.
Four finalists are selected for public readings with an Equity cast at Premiere Stages in the Spring of 2024.
The winner of the Festival will receive a $3,000 advance and a full Equity production as part of Premiere’s 2025 season, with the option to retain the coveted “World Premiere” brand on the play.
Another finalist will receive $1,500 and a week-long workshop in the fall of 2024. The two additional finalists will receive cash prizes of $1,000.
- Plays must be full-length and require no more than 8 actors.
- Plays must be unpublished and unproduced (readings and workshops are okay), with no productions and/or publication currently scheduled through September 2024.
- Playwrights must have strong affiliations with the greater metropolitan area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware), meaning that the Play Festival would not be the writer's first significant experience there.
- Musicals, adaptations (of existing plays or other sources), and solo shows are not eligible.
- Submissions are limited to one script per playwright.
- Please contact Premiere Stages to inquire about submitting a script that has been previously submitted.
- Playwrights must be available for the development of their script (see the 2024 schedule table on our website).
- Submissions are accepted September 1, 2023 through 11:59 p.m. on November 1, 2023. Submissions sent early in the submission window are strongly encouraged.
- Names and contact information are welcome on cover pages of scripts.
- All plays must be submitted as a PDF via Submittable at premierestagesatkean.submittable.com/submit. Hard copies will not be accepted.
- Brief synopsis of the play (no more than half a page)
- History of the play’s development (or statement that it has none)
- The playwright’s bio or resume
- Script sample from the play (no more than 10 pages plus title page and character breakdown)
- Premiere Stages will request full scripts to read if the play seems viable for the 2025 season. All samples are fully considered; the winners of the 2022 and 2023 Play Festival were first received as samples.