Deadline: June 6, 2025
New York Classical Theatre is proud to continue New Visions, our first-ever new play development program, with the launch of Cycle 2 on May 12.
As an AEA Off-Broadway company known for producing free, site-specific productions of classic plays across New York City, NY Classical is committed to making theatre accessible to all. At the heart of New Visions is a bold goal: to confront the exclusion of People of Color, Women, Non-Binary, Trans, and Disabled People from the traditional theatrical canon—and from our own company’s history.
Through New Visions, we are expanding our artistic scope by supporting living playwrights whose work redefines what a “classic” can be and reimagines the canon on their own terms.
NY Classical’s vision affirms that everyone—regardless of social, economic, or educational background—deserves the opportunity to experience live, professional theatre as a shared community. At the same time, we recognize that the so-called “classics” have long upheld systems of oppression and erasure. This program is our response and our invitation: to build a more inclusive and representative theatrical future.
New Visions champions new works that:
• Engage with or reinterpret the classical tradition,
• Expand our collective idea of what a “classic” can be, and
• Challenge the power structures that have historically shaped the canon.
Cycle 2 Program Details & Application Info
Help shape the future of classical theatre. Find out how New Visions works—and how your play could be part of it.
Applications for Cycle 2 are being accepted
May 12th–June 6th, 2025
These New Visions can include, but are not limited to:
1. Adaptation/Translation.
2. Response/Subversion. Examples include: Branden Jacobs Jenkins’s An Octoroon and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
3. Prequel/Sequel. Examples include: Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Taylor Mac’s Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
4. Plays that engage with history and bring forgotten events to life. Examples include: John Guare’s A Free Man of Color and August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean
5. Plays that engage with written stories beyond the stage, including novels, poems and poetry collections, and journals that exists in the public domain. Examples include: Kate Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice
6. Plays that derive from oral histories, rituals, and other forms of creating, knowing, remembering, and documenting the world beyond the written word. Examples include: Ondinnok’s Rabinal Achi
*We are especially interested in plays that engage histories and traditions from outside the Western European and American canons and historical traditions.*
*We are especially interested in works that challenge and contest the classical canon.*
Each play selected for “New Visions” will receive:
A two-day, public staged reading, including:
A professional director and cast
12 hours of rehearsal
One hour of guided discussion and feedback with the cast and director
One hour of guided discussion and feedback with the audience
Up to ten hours of further engagement and development with NY Classical’s Literary Director.
A $300 stipend and up to $500 travel reimbursement
Each selected play will also be considered for further development and production with NY Classical.
We invite and encourage playwrights of all backgrounds, experience, and training to apply.
Eligibility Requirements:
1. USA Based Playwrights Only.
2. Play must be primarily in English. Bilingual plays, including ASL, are encouraged.
3. Only plays that have not had a professional, AEA production are eligible. Scripts that have had readings, workshops, non-AEA or university productions are welcome.
4. Plays must have an estimated run time between 70 and 150 minutes.
5. Plays must include a minimum of 50% characters from historically excluded groups.
6. We are not looking to commission a new play. We are looking to develop existing original works.
How to submit
Please submit the following as one PDF to literary@nyclassical.org including:
1. Your name
2. A 100-200 word synopsis of the play
3. A character breakdown. This must include which roles are written to be performed by actors from historically excluded groups. A minimum of 50% of roles must fulfill this requirement.
4. A brief statement (as short as one sentence) of how this play is in conversation with an idea of “classics.”
5. The first ten pages of dialogue from the play you would like considered.
Playwrights selected from the initial review of applications will be invited to submit a full script for consideration. NY Classical may also request to have a conversation with the playwright regarding the work.
Please do not send complete scripts unless requested.
We look forward to reading your work.