Deadline: January 3, 2025 at midnight
SUBMISSION FORM
Theatre Now defines a 10-minute musical as any piece that can be performed in 10 minutes or less; has a beginning, middle, and end story arc; and includes music. Having produced nearly 100 pieces, we want musicals that are diverse and current, that test the musical form and communicate a well-crafted story. We accept musicals across all styles and genres and are happy to consider foreign language and/or bilingual scripts. We strongly encourage submissions from female writers, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ writers.
As Theatre Now is an artist service organization and the producer of SOUND BITES, we cover the majority of your expenses and costs. We're the only short musical theatre festival that offers artists honorariums and rehearsal reimbursements for each piece. That being said, there are some out-of-pocket costs depending on your show's requirements (cast & creative team size, number of rehearsals, size of rehearsal space, etc.) and personal choice. Most of these costs relate to specific set-dressing, props and costumes for your show and additional personnel such as musicians.
Please review the following criteria thoroughly before sending your submission:
Ten-minute musicals will be accepted from September 1st, 2024 - January 3rd, 2025 at midnight.
Submissions won’t be considered before or after the deadline.
Musical theatre writers can only submit up to two scripts.
The story must have a beginning, middle, and end.
We accept submissions in foreign languages or that are bilingual. Although the application process is in English, the work itself may be submitted and performed in any other language if selected.
Each piece must include music.
All submissions must be submitted via this website. No physical copies.
Each musical must not exceed ten minutes when performed. If accepted, cuts may be required.
Longer one-acts or full-length musicals will not be considered, although the submission may be a 10-minute portion of a longer piece as long as it tells a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end story arc.
A musical may be a previously-produced work with a production history.
We have no formal script formatting guidelines, but all scripts should be easy to read.
The volume of submissions prevents us from providing feedback on all submissions.
If your piece is visual (i.e. choreography-heavy), please include video footage or detailed descriptions.
We expect to contact all writers by mid-February, 2025 on the status of their submission with one of the following emails:
An acceptance email into the festival that will include additional information to confirm their involvement.
A waitlist email. In the event an accepted musical declines their participation, a selected waitlisted musical will be notified to serve as a replacement.
The remaining musicals will receive a "not selected" email and are encouraged to submit again next year.