Deadline: June 15, 2026
Making It Happen: 15 Minute Musicals is a new short musical festival presented by The Theater Center, created to give writers, composers, lyricists, and creative teams the opportunity to present original musical theatre work on an Off-Broadway stage in the heart of Times Square.
Selected musicals will perform at The Theater Center on one of three preliminary performance nights:
- Wednesday, August 12
- Wednesday, August 19
- Wednesday, August 26
Each evening will feature three musicals. Audiences and judges will vote to determine one winner from each night. The three nightly winners will advance to the Finals on Wednesday, September 2, where one overall winner will receive a $5,000 prize.
All submitted material must be fully original, including book, music, and lyrics. Teams must have the rights to perform all submitted material.
This is a non-union festival. All casts, creative teams, musicians, and production personnel must be non-union.
We strongly urge that your cast size is 6 or less.
Selected teams will be responsible for providing their own cast, director, stage manager, music director, and live musicians/accompanist. Live music is required. Tracks are not permitted. No microphones will be used or provided, so pieces must be able to be performed acoustically in the space.
Productions should be simple, flexible, and festival-ready. Selected teams will receive performance space, basic technical support, box office services, festival-wide marketing, and a technical rehearsal slot on the day of their performance.
Please only submit if you and your team are available for the preliminary performance dates and, if selected as a finalist, the final performance on September 2.