CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS — Mini Plays Review | September 2026 Issue

Website 

Deadline: August 31, 2026

Email: Send your script as an attachment to miniplaysmag@gmail.com 

Subject Line: Submission: [Play Title] - [Your Name]
In the Body: Include a brief 50-word biography and your contact details.

Length: Maximum of 2 pages per mini play/soliloquy/monologue.
Format: Standard playwriting format (PDF or Word document preferred).
Limit: Maximum of 5 submissions per playwright.

Originality: Works must be original and unproduced in print format. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, provided you notify us immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.

Theme: Echoes of the Digital Age

This issue explores how human connection, conflict, identity, and memory are being rewritten in a hyper-connected yet deeply isolated world. We are looking for sharp, short scripts that capture the friction between our physical lives and our digital existence.

Subthemes for Submission:

1. Phantom Vibrations: The psychological weight, anxiety, or obsession of waiting for a notification that never comes

2. The Glitch in the Routine: A comedic or absurdist take on what happens when smart tech, algorithms, or AI assistants go entirely off-script.


3. Data Dust: A monologue or dialogue centering on a character confronting their digital legacy or a past online version of themselves.


4. Analog Hearts: Stories of people trying to find genuine, old-school intimacy, romance, or a quiet space to unplug in a world that demands constant presence.


5. The Algorithm Knows Best: A conflict where a major life decision (romance, career, ethics) is dictated entirely by predictive data.


6. Ghosted: The sudden, haunting silence of an abrupt digital disappearance and the struggle for closure in the real world.


7. Two Screens, One Couch: The invisible distance between two people physically close but entirely separated by their respective digital worlds.


8. The Deepfake: A high-stakes confrontation involving stolen identity, altered reality, or the blurring line between truth and digital fabrication.


9. Curated Lives: The dramatic tension behind the camera lens—what happens the second the "perfect" livestream or social media recording stops.


10. Sentience on the Line: A sharp dialogue between a human and an AI that is beginning to exhibit unexpectedly human traits or emotions.


11. The Comments Section: A play taking place entirely within the ecosystem of online anonymity, trolls, or internet fame.


12. Doomscrolling at Midnight: A micro-drama capturing the internal or external chaos of consuming endless global crisis updates in the dark.


13. Out of Network: The survivalist drama or unexpected freedom experienced when a character is completely disconnected from cellular service or power.


14. Digital Inheritance: A family or legal dispute over ownership of a deceased loved one's passwords, data, cloud storage, or online avatar.


15. The Echo Chamber: Two characters trapped in an escalating argument where they are incapable of hearing any perspective outside their own programmed biases.


Note:

The anthology will be published in pdf and paperback editions.

A free Pdf edition of the anthology will be published on our website .

A paperback edition will be published on ingram spark or lulu.com.

There is no publication, reading, processing or publishing fee.

Troy Foundry Theatre 2026 Half-Baked Festival of Emerging Work: Becoming

Website

Deadline: August 17, 2026 at 5PM

Please submit as many of the materials listed below possible in a SINGLE PDF to  tftsubmissions@gmail.com. 

Your PDF should include:

1. Contact Information

• Name
• Email
• Phone number
• Location (city/state or region)

2. Artist Statement
Brief introduction to your artistic practice and creative mission

3. Project Information

• Project description: What is your piece? What world does it inhabit?
• Themes, questions, or artistic investigations driving the work
• Current stage of development
• Working title
• Any Script excerpts, images, video, audio, or other supporting materials (if available)
• Brief synopsis
• Number of performers
• Current runtime
• Creative team roles and needs (casting, directing, collaborators, etc.)
• Technical requirements beyond basic festival lighting and sound capabilities

4. Development History

Troy Foundry Theatre, a nonprofit theatre based in Troy, New York, is seeking submissions for the 2026 Half-Baked Festival of Emerging Work—a celebration of bold, unfinished, and in-development performance projects.

Now in its fourth year, The TFT Half-Baked Festival of Emerging Work celebrates the unfinished, the audacious, and the revolutionary in theatre-making. We believe some of the most exciting artistic discoveries happen during development—when work is still breathing, evolving, and finding its voice. Half-Baked exists to support projects that are searching, questioning, transforming, and taking creative risks. If your work is strange, ambitious, unsettling, genre-defying, impossible to categorize, or beautifully unfinished, we want to see it.

For this year's festival, we are particularly interested in:

Projects inspired directly or indirectly by genres and themes like:
Horror, body horror, cosmic terror, folk horror, gothic horror, romantic horror, psychological thriller, dystopia, speculative fiction, monsters, hauntings, transformation, sex and death, the uncanny, apocalypse, grief, obsession, desire, and the grotesque.

Or creators and writers like:
Angela Carter, Ari Aster, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Carmen Maria Machado, Caryl Churchill, Curry Barker, David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro, Han Kang, Helen Oyeyemi, H.P. Lovecraft, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Jane Schoenbrun, Jennifer Kent, Jeremy O. Harris, Jordan Peele, Julia Ducournau, Karyn Kusama, Kelly Link, Margaret Atwood, Mariana Enríquez, María Irene Fornés, Mary Shelley, Nia DaCosta, N.K. Jemisin, Octavia Butler, Osgood Perkins, Sarah Kane, Shirley Jackson, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Suzan-Lori Parks, Tananarive Due, Toni Morrison, Young Jean Lee, and Quiara Alegría Hudes.

We welcome and accept:
Projects that engage with these influences literally, loosely, or in spirit. We are interested in work that explores fear, transformation, power, desire, the body, the supernatural, memory, myth, and the strange possibilities of being human. Projects must be in development and may not have received a full professional production. Selected artists will work with the festival team to determine a performance schedule; projects will not perform every day of the festival.

In the form of:

• New plays and devised works-in-progress that challenge theatrical form
• Lecture-performances and research-based artistic investigations
• Experimental, interdisciplinary, and short-form performance projects
• Provocations, works-in-process, and other emerging theatrical experiments
• Other forms not dreamed up or imaged yet

PGE’s 8th Annual Faces of America Monologue Festival

Website

Deadline: August 17, 2026

SUBMISSION FORM

On November 21, 2026, we will host the 8th Annual Faces of America Monologue Festival at The Marjorie S. Deane Theater in NYC.

We created the Faces of America Monologue Festival in 2019 in response to the inequality of opportunities available to marginalized communities.

Each year we celebrate the diverse stories that make up America by inviting writers to submit two minute monologues that showcase the broad spectrum of what it is to live, work and play in America. Our aim is to collect unique, captivating and beautiful stories and share them so that we learn, grow and hear each other.

We can’t wait to hear the incredible stories that will be submitted for this year’s festival.

To submit your monologue for consideration there are 4 few simple rules:

Your monologue must fit in the theme Faces of America.

Your monologue should represent America's incredible diversity. (BIPOC, AAPI, Latine, and LGBTQIA+ artists are all strongly encouraged to apply). Monologues can be historical or futuristic, cultural or political, comedic or tragic, spoken or signed!

Your monologue must be less than two minutes in length.
We can't stress this one enough. If your monologue is longer it will not be considered.

Include the word "REACTION” somewhere in your monologue.
If this word does not appear in the monologue it will not be considered.

Send your submission to us between July 6th - August 17th, 2026.
Late entries will not be considered. Submissions are limited to two per writer.

How Selection Works:

Our selection committee is made up of past alumni of our festival, they will read all submitted monologues that meet the above requirements in multiple rounds until we reach the final 25.

Submitted monologues remain anonymous to our readers throughout the selection process.

All submissions will be contacted by early October as to your status.

What do I get if selected?

Selected writers will receive a small honorarium.

Your monologue will be be performed by a brilliant actor from The PGE casting pool at the eighth festival November 21, 2026 in NYC.

You will receive a ticket to the Festival and Roundtable Panel.

We will published your monologue in The PGE Faces of America Monologue Festival Anthology #8. (All monologue copyrights are retained by the author)

A Copy of The PGE Faces of America Monologue Festival Anthology #8.

MAGNUS by Wendy Biller at the Dream Up Festival/Theater for the New City

TICKETS ONLY $15 at

https://ci.ovationtix.com/35441/production/1283580

Theater for the New City, 

Crystal Field (Artistic Director) presents: 

MAGNUS 

WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY WENDY BILLER

A comedy-drama about the clash of contemporary Hollywood with Weimar Republic Germany, with an ensemble of dysfunctional characters and emceed by the ghost of sexologist Magnus Hirscheld.

With: 

• Aaron Applebey 
• Tabitha Bradley 
• Taylor Brandon 
• Caroline Hawthorne 
• Louise Heller 
• S. Brian Jones 

Theater for the New City

155 1st Ave

New York, NY 10003

 

As part of the Dream Up Festival  Community Space Theater 

Thu August 27 at 6:30 pm 

Fri August 28 at 9:00 pm 

Sat August 29 at 8:00 pm

Sun August 30 at 2:00 pm 

Mon August 31 at 6:30 pm

Door is a Jar literary magazine seeks short plays

Website

Deadline: none listed

SUBMISSION FORM 

Following the Standard American Format 

Submit up to 2 short plays. Each play can range between 1 and 10 pages in length as a .doc or .docx.

Door Is A Jar Literary Magazine is looking for well-crafted poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, artwork, and book reviews for our print and digital publication. Please read over these submission guidelines carefully and look at our current and archived issues before submitting your work.

Our publication steers away from academic writing and publishes short, conversational works that use familiar language. Each new issue features artists and writers and works that are accessible for all readers.

Our issues are don't have specific themes, and we accept all genres and literary styles.

Submit all work in Times New Roman font size 11

We only accept new, unpublished work. If you have posted something to your website or social media, this counts as being published.


For book reviews please include the following information: the title, author, publisher, year of publication, page count, ISBN, and price.

Under the "Title(s)" section, please list all the titles of the pieces you are submitting, and not something general like "My Poems". Make sure you are consistent with how you present the titles in your attached document and in this space.

If you are unable to fit all the titles into the "Title(s)" section, please list them in your cover letter section of the submission form.

Please provide your name as you would like published, email, mailing address, and a fun 3-sentence bio. (We're not as interested in how many degrees you have, or how widely you've been published. Instead, we want to hear about the real you. We want to know about the little things that spur you along.)

Contributors can submit to multiple categories; however, only submit once to each category until you have received our decision about your piece.

You will receive an acceptance or rejection letter from our editorial staff within 6 months from the day of submission.​


We accept simultaneous submissions; however, please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. If accepted, please withdraw the piece from other publications.
​
We reserve first initial publishing rights, and the rights reprint right to use quotes or pieces for promotional use. We do not pay contributors at this time, but we will send out a contributor copy.

Submissions are only accepted through our website. Any submissions sent directly to our email will be deleted without response.

Please note that submissions that exceed word counts or maximum amount of material will be disqualified from consideration.

Do not send in writing or art that was created using Artificial Intelligence. Submitting work generated by A.I. technology will be considered as plagiarism.

Be the sole author/ creator of your work. We do not publish collaborative pieces.

We do not publish translations.

We do not publish craft essays.
​


If you have trouble uploading your file, the problem could have been an issue when saving, which corrupted the file, or your computer could have virus. Some people have had issues when downloading files from Google Documents. The best way around this is to copy and paste the document into a new .docx and trying to submit again.

The Soliloquist Journal seeks soliloquies

Website

Deadline: October 20, 2026

Where to send: Email your work as a single Word or PDF document to thesoliloquistmag@gmail.com. 
Subject Line: Fall 2026 Submission – [Your Name] 

"Share Your Soliloquy"

For our Fall 2026 Issue, The Soliloquist Journal invites poets and writers to dissect the mechanics of memory loss— chosen and unchosen. What do you let go of on purpose? What slips away against your will? What do you misremember, and why does the misremembering feel like its own kind of truth?

We are looking for raw, vulnerable, and authentic poetry and soliloquies that trace the edges of what has been lost, blurred, or deliberately buried.

SUBTHEMES:

Selective Erasure — The things we choose to forget on purpose: a face, a
betrayal, a version of ourselves we've outgrown.

Phantom Memory — The ache of a memory that lingers after the thing
itself is gone—like sensation in a missing limb.

The Unreliable Archive — Misremembering as its own act of creation: when
the story we tell replaces the thing that actually happened.

Inherited Forgetting — Family silences, generational gaps, and the things
left unspoken until they simply cease to exist.

The Slow Fade — The involuntary kind of forgetting: aging, illness,
distance, and the quiet grief of watching a memory dissolve in real time.

SHANGRI-LA-LA: The Siegfried & Roy Musical Returns to New York

White tigers. Rhinestones. Magic. Lawsuits. And two German dreamers determined to turn Las Vegas into Shangri-La

Shangri-La-La is a funny and unconventional new musical inspired by the true story of Siegfried & Roy and the transformation of Las Vegas into a spectacle-driven family destination. Blending original music, magic, comedy, and a boldly theatrical visual world, the show explores the ambition, delusion, and excess behind that cultural reinvention. Beneath the sequins and absurdity lies a distinctly American story about illusion, image-making, and the business of manufacturing fantasy.

The fast-moving, one-hour festival version will be presented as part of the Dream Up Festival at Theater for the New City.

Saturday, August 29, 2026, at 2:00 PM
Johnson Theater, Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue, New York City

Tickets:
https://ci.ovationtix.com/35441/production/1283651?performanceId=11842073

Trinity Theater Company 5th Annual New Works Festival 2027

Website

Deadline: August 17, 2026 at 5PM PDT

SUBMISSION FORM

Join us for the Fifth Annual New Works Festival, a multi-day celebration of original plays, staged readings, and exciting theatrical experiments—all crafted by rising playwrights and boundary-pushing storytellers.

This year’s theme is: What Comes Next. We invite original plays and musicals that explore moments of change, choice, transformation, and the possibilities of what comes next.

There is no travel stipend for out-of-town/non-local playwrights. Instead, I may participate virtually through Zoom or other preferred videoconferencing.

Selected playwrights will be paid by Trinity Theatre as follows:

10-minutes & one-acts - $50/performance

full-lengths - $100/performance

The 5th Annual New Works Festival will be presented April 8-11, 2027 at Trinity Theatre in San Diego, CA

Ten-Minute Musicals Project 2026

Website

Deadline: August 31, 2026

Since the inception of The Ten-Minute Musicals Project, over eighteen hundred submissions have been received in the annual competition, from librettists, lyricists and composers in seventeen nations: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Africa, Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay.

Stories 1.0 is a continually evolving full-length musical comprised of works selected in the first many rounds. Several works in Stories 1.0 were collectively workshopped in San Francisco, New York, Miami, and Nashville over the years. Individual segments have been independently workshopped or produced in Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, London, New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

SEEKING: Complete original stage musicals which play between seven and twenty minutes. Works which have been previously produced are acceptable, as are excerpts from full-length shows, if they can stand on their own.

MUSICAL STYLE AND THEATRICAL FORMAT: Any musical style: pop, rock, show, opera, C&W, etc; or theatrical format: comedy, mystery, drama, etc. (Note: with original music only—so no parody songs.)

CAST SIZE: Maximum of ten performers—five women and five men.

SUBMISSIONS SHOULD INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

1. A printed script. (Note: printed on paper; not sent as a computer file on disk.) And please make sure your POSTAL ADDRESS appears on it.

2. A CD or DVD of either the entire piece or just the musical material. (Please don’t send a USB flash drive.)

3. A stamped self-addressed large envelope if you want the work returned.

4. More than one work can be submitted at a time, in the same envelope or separately.

CONCERNING THE ABOVE, PLEASE NOTE: NO ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS — HARD COPIES ONLY

DEADLINE: Simply postmarked by August 31st. (Do not waste money on overnight express, registered, or certified mail. All that’s requested is that the package be postmarked by August 31—but even if you’re just a day or two late, don’t worry. This is not some officious arts bureaucracy.) Responses will be mailed by November 30th to every creator or creative team whose work was recieved.

FINANCIAL REMUNERATION: $250/US royalty advance for each piece selected, with an equal share of licensing royalties when produced.

SEND TO:

The Ten-Minute Musicals Project
Michael Koppy, Producer
P.O. Box 461194
West Hollywood, CA 90046 USA

CUT / EDGE Poetry for Playwrights Workshop 2026

Cut Edge Collective is holding a "Poetry for Playwrights" workshop, led by poet Carlie Hoffman. The workshop is designed specifically for playwrights, and will follow this schedule:

First class: Introduction to poetry

Second and Third class: Narrative poetry

Fourth and Fifth class: Dialogic poetry 

 

There will be readings, writing, workshopping and homework.


Dates are Tuesdays, October 6 - November 3, 6-8 pm., in midtown (once we have critical mass, I will reserve space).

Total fee: $150.

TO RESERVE A SPOT, PLEASE EMAIL CUTEDGECOLLECTIVE@GMAIL.COM. YOUR SPACE WILL BE RESERVED UPON RECEIPT OF THE WORKSHOP FEE.

This is a first come/first served opportunity - once we have 10 reserved spots, the opportunity will close, and there will be more information forthcoming.

As playwright Janet Neipris said: "Words are the enemy of theater." This workshop offers a manner of combatting that.

Hoping to see you at the poetry table!

Charles M. Getchell New Play Contest 2026

Website

Deadline: August 15 at 11:59 PM

or until 150 submissions are received

SUBMISSION FORM

Charles M. Getchell New Contest is dedicated to the discovery, development and publicizing of worthy new plays and playwrights.

The Charles M. Getchell New Play Award, administered by the Southeastern Theatre Conference, supports the discovery, development, and public recognition of strong new plays.

The contest is designed to identify a worthy full-length play for development through SETC, including a staged reading at the annual SETC Convention.

For the 2026–2027 cycle, SETC has revised eligibility guidelines that honor the organization’s Southeastern roots while opening the contest to playwrights whose work is meaningfully connected to the American South and features stories of that region. For purposes of this contest, SETC’s region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. SETC will also consider work connected to the broader American South when the playwright clearly identifies that connection in the application

Regional and Artistic Connection

Eligible playwrights must meet at least one of the following criteria:

1. The playwright currently resides in the American South;

2. The playwright was raised in, educated in, or has a significant personal, professional, or artistic connection to the American South; or

3. The submitted play is directly connected to, or in sustained conversation with the American South, including its people, histories, cultures, communities, landscapes, conflicts, traditions, or contemporary realities.

• The awardee receives: A $1,000 cash award
• Support toward participation in the annual SETC Convention; including registration and travel stipend
• A professional critique and developmental support
• A staged reading of the selected play at the SETC Convention
• Additional visibility through SETC publications, online platforms, and new play development partners as space is available 

UMBRELLAS FOR FISH seeks one-act plays, monologues and dramatic scenes for the September issue

Website

Deadline: August 25, 2026

We are now accepting submissions for our September 2026 Issue.
Website: https://ufjournal.wixsite.com/umbrellas-for-fish/submissions

Email: ufjournal@aol.com

Umbrellas for Fish is an international literary journal devoted exclusively to absurd and existential drama. We publish work that wrestles with the irrational, the unexplainable, and the darkly comic—plays, monologues, and dramatic scenes that invite audiences to sit with uncertainty rather than resolve it neatly.

We believe theatre is a space where logic can be bent, time can fold back on itself, and a fish might, against all reason, carry an umbrella. We welcome voices from around the world and across all career stages, from debut playwrights to established dramatists.

We seek dramatic work that is bold, strange, and alive—pieces that take risks with form, voice, and theatrical logic.

We are particularly interested in work featuring:

• Absurdity, existential tension, or cosmic indifference
• Innovative dramatic structures and theatrical experimentation
• Strong, stageable writing and memorable dialogue
• Meaningful ambiguity rather than simple confusion
• Themes exploring meaning, identity, freedom, mortality, and the human condition

We are not seeking conventional realism without a twist, shock value without purpose, or work that resolves its contradictions too neatly.
Accepted Categories

• Absurd Plays
• Existential Drama

• Experimental Theatre
• Playwriting Essays

Length:

• One-Act Plays (up to 10 pages)
• Flash Drama (up to 2 pages)
• Monologues (up to 2 pages)

• Dramatic Scenes (up to 10 pages)
. Playwriting Essays (up to 5 pages)

Submission Guidelines

• Submit manuscripts in DOC or DOCX format only
• Use a readable 12-point font
• Number all pages
• Include a title page with the title and author's name
• Include a third-person author bio (50–100 words) at the end of the manuscript
• Scripts should follow standard dramatic formatting
• Simultaneous submissions are welcome; please notify us if accepted elsewhere

Prepare your manuscript according to the guidelines above.

• Include a 50–100 word third-person bio.
• In the body of your email, include:Your name
• Title of the work
• Genre category
• A brief 1–3 sentence description of the piece
• Attach your manuscript as a DOC or DOCX file.
• Name your file: TITLE_LASTNAME.docx
• Send your submission to ufjournal@aol.com

Subject Line Format:
SUBMISSION — [Title] — [Genre]
Key Dates

Submissions Open: Now Open
Submission Deadline: August 25, 2026
Response Time: 4–6 Weeks

Issue Publication: September 2026

Fee:
There is no reading, submission or publication fee.


Rights
If a work is selected for publication, the playwright retains all intellectual property, copyright, and performance rights to the work. By accepting publication in Umbrellas for Fish, the author grants the journal non-exclusive permission to publish the work as part of the September 2026 issue. All rights revert to the author upon publication, and the author remains free to reproduce, perform, or republish the work elsewhere, provided that first publication in Umbrellas for Fish is acknowledged where appropriate.

Payment

Umbrellas for Fish is a non-paying market. As an independent journal operating without grants, institutional funding, or regular donations, we are currently unable to offer royalties, honoraria, or other forms of monetary compensation to contributors.

Authors whose work is selected for publication will receive publication credit and worldwide exposure through the journal.Editorial Vision

Umbrellas for Fish takes its name from the absurdist spirit that animates the work we publish: the belief that theatre can illuminate issue. the mysteries of existence through contradiction, imagination, humor, and uncertainty.

We welcome playwrights from all countries, backgrounds, and career stages and are especially interested in amplifying voices that have been underrepresented in the dramatic canon.

We look forward to reading your work.

Warm regards,

Editorial Team
Umbrellas for Fish: An International Journal of Absurd & Existential Drama
Email: ufjournal@aol.com

THE LARKING HOUSE Playwright's Intensive 2026: Open Submissions

Website

Deadline: August 15, 2026

or after 300 submissions have been received

Anaheim, CA

THEY HAVE REACHED THEIR 300 SUBMISSION LIMIT - DO NOT SEND

Do you have a play that’s ready to get off the page and into the rehearsal room? The Larking House is now accepting new, unproduced, or in-process plays for the 2026 installment of our Playwright’s Intensive, a writer-driven program to jumpstart your play and lead the shape of its development.

This season, we are seeking 4 new scripts by local and remote playwrights to be workshopped and presented over a weeklong program. We’re seeking one-act and full length plays that have yet to be fully produced. Each play will be cast and directed over a series of playwright-oriented workshop rehearsals, culminating in a staged reading and response session from invited respondents. The intensives will take place between October 18th and November 14th, with one playwright’s work explored and developed each week. This year we will have two remote sessions, and two in-person readings for California-local playwrights in the Orange County area.

Submission Guidelines:

• Unproduced or lightly-produced plays.
• One-acts or full length plays between 30~120 pages. (Unfortunately, no musicals.)
• Casts of at least 2 to around 10 performers.
• One play per submission, and one submission per playwright (or per writing team).
• Please send your script in .PDF format only.
• Include on your first page: title, author’s name(s), submission email, and relevant contact info.

The Playwrights Intensive is an unpaid workshop opportunity free of charge, supported by volunteer artists and facilitators. We are an ensemble of emerging and evolving theater artists, forming a home for collaborative development in Anaheim, CA.

Torch Literary Arts seeks one-act plays by Black Women

Website

Deadline: rolling basis every Friday

SUBMIT VIA SUBMITTABLE

Torch Literary Arts welcomes submissions of original creative work by Black women writers. We are interested in work that challenges and disrupts preconceived notions of what contemporary writing by Black women should be. Your stories and poems are valuable and necessary. Write freely and submit work you are excited to share with the world.

Manuscript GuidelinesInclude a one (1) page cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted and a brief bio. The cover letter page does not contribute to the overall page count.Note: Submissions without a cover letter may not be read.

Upload your text submission as a Word (DOC, DOCX) or portable document format (PDF).
Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages.
Numbered pages.
Margins should be set at no less than 1” and no greater than 1.5”.

Drama/Screenwriting: submit one act or a collection of short scenes no longer than fifteen (15) pages. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Indicate if a performance video or dramatic audio reading will be available with the text submission if selected.

Secret Theatre FLYING SOLO 6

Website

Deadline: August 31, 2026

Please submit as soon as possible, we accept plays on a rolling basis.

SUBMISSION FORM

FLYING SOLO 6 September 2026

Festival Dates: SEPT 14th-20th Call for Submissions for Flying Solo 6! 

READ THIS FIRST : This an application for a solo show of any length up to 60mins please do not fill this out for any other submission - there are separate systems for full length and short plays featuring more than one character

Northern Michigan Asylum Playwriting Contest

Website

Deadline: December 31, 2026

The Northern Michigan Asylum Playwriting Contest invites playwrights to submit original works inspired by, connected to, or thematically centered on the history, architecture, culture, or personal stories associated with the Northern Michigan Asylum (also known as the Traverse City State Hospital). Works may be dramatic, comedic, historical, speculative, or musical in style, but all submissions must honor or explore the site in a meaningful way.

Contest is hosted by Old Town Playhouse (OTP), a community theater serving Traverse City, Michigan, and The Minervini Group LLC (TMG), redevelopers of The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, the original site of the Northern Michigan Asylum.

The contest opens January 19, 2026, and all submissions must be received by December 31, 2026.

Eligibility

• Open to writers of all experience levels.
• Writers must be at least 18 years old at the time of submission.
• Co-authored works are permitted.
• Submissions must be written in English.

Content Requirements

Subject Matter: The play must contain significant themes, settings, characters, or plot elements directly related to the Northern Michigan Asylum/Traverse City State Hospital.

Allowed Formats:

o One-act plays
o Two-act plays
o Musicals

Northern Michigan Asylum Playwriting Contest — Submission Guidelines 

Length Guidelines:

o One-act: 20–60 minutes
o Two-act: 60–150 minutes
o Musicals: 45–180 minutes

• Originality: Only original, unpublished, and unproduced works are eligible.

Prohibition on AI-Generated Content

To preserve artistic integrity and honor the spirit of the competition:

• No portion of the script may be generated by artificial intelligence tools (including ChatGPT, other LLMs, AI story generators, or automated scriptwriting tools).

• Writers may not use AI to draft, plot, or produce dialogue or lyrics.

• AI-assisted proofreading (e.g., spelling/grammar checks) is permitted, but no AI content generation may be used at any stage.

• Entrants will be required to attest that all creative content is human-authored.

Submission Requirements

• Format:

o PDF file only
o Standard script formatting preferred (12-point font, standard margins)
o Include a title page with:

▪ Play title
▪ Author’s name
▪ Contact email
▪ Contact phone number
▪ Whether the play is one-act, two-act, or a musical
• Page Header: Include the play title and page numbers on each page.

Northern Michigan Asylum Playwriting Contest — Submission Guidelines Page 2• Synopsis: Include a 150–300 word synopsis at the beginning (separate page).

• Character Breakdown: Provide a list of characters, including vocal ranges for musicals.

• Optional: A brief (100-word) playwright biography.

Submission Process

• Submissions open January 19, 2026 at 12:00 AM EST.

• All entries must be submitted by December 31, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST.

• Submissions must be sent by email to contest@oldtownplayhouse.com either as a PDF attachment or unrestricted link to cloud storage.

• Each entrant may submit up to two plays.

Evaluation Criteria & Winning

Entries will be judged on:

• Quality of storytelling and dramatic structure

• Creative integration of Northern Michigan Asylum themes

• Originality and artistic vision

• Character development

• Stage feasibility

• Musical quality (for musicals)

One work will be chosen to be fully workshopped and produced in late 2027 or early 2028 by Old Town Playhouse. The performance will take place at Kirkbride Hall located in one of the original Northern Michigan Asylum buildings. [Note: A staged reading may be presented in lieu of a full production if material warrants such].

Judges panel will be comprised of two representatives from Old Town Playhouse, two representatives from The Minervini Group LLC and one outside representative designated by Old Town Playhouse to serve on the panel.

Winning playwright will be notified no later than February 28, 2027.

Northern Michigan Asylum Playwriting Contest — Submission Guidelines 

Rights and Permissions

• Playwrights retain all rights to their work.

• By entering the contest, playwrights grant the organizers permission to excerpt, read publicly, or stage readings for purposes of event promotion from the time the winning script is selected and announced until the closing performance of the OTP production produced in late 2027 or early 2028.

Winters Theater Company 10-minute 2027 Play Festival

 Website

Deadline: August 15, 2026, 5:00pm PDT 

Submission form on the bottom of the page

The popular annual 10-Minute Play Festival returns to Winters Theatre Company for the 2027 season! To submit your original 10-minute play to be considered for the 2027 Festival, please review the festival requirements and then complete and submit the application form below.

Rules and Requirements: 

Any play submission must come directly from the original playwright/author of the play. 

Every play must be fully performed in 10-minutes or less.

Script should not rely on more than minimalist props.

You must be 18 years of age or older to submit an application for the 10-Minute Play Festival. 

There is a limit of 1 play submission per author for the 10-Minute Play Festival.

If the selected play runs over 10 minutes, the director and producers reserve the right to edit the script to meet the 10-minute requirement.  Author will be contacted in advance. 

General Information: 

There is NO THEME. 

There is NO FEE for the author to submit a play or to participate in the 10-Minute Play Festival.

There is NO COMPENSATION for author/director/cast member(s).

The festival will consist of 8 play selections (all 10-minutes or less) in 2 acts.

The festival performance dates will be weekends in late February / early March 2027

We will announce the plays selected for the festival by 11/01/2026.  Given the volume of submissions, we will only contact the authors whose plays have been selected. 

 Winters Theatre Company will select directors for each selected play.

Winters Theatre Company will advertise for the 10-Minute Play Festival via their website, social media, printed media, and press releases.  The website will include a short synopsis of each play, author bio and link to author website and/or social media.

 Plays will be selected, in part, based on their portability, overall length, transition time, and the ability of the script to tell the story without excessive reliance on props or costumes.

We're looking forward to reading your play submission!

The script doctor is in the house! 🩷

Sarah Congress is an award-winning playwright and script doctor for film, TV series, theatre, and fiction here to help YOU take your script to the next level. She provides a fun, nurturing, therapeutic, environment to best suit your individual writing needs. 

Script Services:

• Help clients fine-tune their scripts
• Offer rewrite suggestions to help tighten and polish your story
• Improve dialogue
• Punch up jokes and suggest opportunities for humor 
• Help you learn how to HOOK a reader's interest 
• Assist in finding submission, production, and publication opportunities 

More about Sarah: 

Sarah has taught group writing classes for the Hoboken Historical Museum, Project Write Now, The Knowledge Project, and the Hudson Valley Writers Center. This year, her vampire satire Not Gucci was named a Top 30 play by Centre Stage's 24th Annual New Play Festival, her full-length horror/comedy Delulu was read at AWP Baltimore 2026, and her period piece Last Sunrise was performed at Under Saint Marks Place, NYC in June. She is represented by Anthony Tall and works part-time for the Dean's Office at Columbia University, School of the Arts.

Visit Sarah's website to learn more and connect.

New Dramatists 7-Year Residency

Website

Deadline: August 10, 2026 at 11:59 EDT
Or until a maximum of 700 submissions is reached, whichever comes first

UPDATE: As of 4:00pm on Friday, July 31, we have received 588 complete submissions. Please do not delay if you intend to apply.

APPLICATION FORM

This cycle, New Dramatists will recommend to the panel that they select a group of no more than 5 incoming writers, managing the size of the resident company in order to provide robust support.

ELIGIBILITY

Any playwright who is a U.S. citizen or who resides in and has the legal right to work in the United States may apply for the 7-year residency at New Dramatists as long as they can meet the submission requirements of 2 full-length plays and a biography or resume.

RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS

HOW TO SUBMIT

Before beginning your application, please download and read the Guidelines for Resident Company document at the bottom of this page.

It is in your best interest to gather the documents required to upload to the application—two "blind" scripts and your bio/resume—early in the window, and submit your application in one session. You may be able to pause and return to your application as long as you continue working in the same browser, but this is not our recommendation. Once you complete the final step to “Submit Your Application”, you will no longer have access to your application.

Please email our Literary Services Manager Connie Hall admissions@newdramatists.org with any questions.

The Harbor New Musical Initiative

Website

Deadline: August 30, 2026

Or until 40 eligible submissions have been received

SUBMISSION FORM

The Harbor New Musical Initiative was created to discover, develop, and produce exceptional original musicals by emerging and established writers from around the world. Each year, one musical will be selected to receive a fully staged production as the Season Finale of Harbor Theatrics, along with a $250 honorarium, a guaranteed run of at least six public performances, and collaborative support throughout the production process.

Unlike many submission opportunities, every accepted musical will receive personalized written feedback from our Literary Team. We believe every writer deserves thoughtful consideration, constructive feedback, and the encouragement to continue creating.

To ensure every submission receives the attention it deserves, only 40 eligible musicals will be accepted each year.

Whether this is your first musical or your fiftieth, we invite you to share your story with us.

1. Eligibility

Submitted musicals must be original, full-length works that have not received a previous full

professional or community theatre production. Workshop productions, staged readings,

developmental presentations, concerts, and festival performances are eligible. Submitters must

own or control all necessary rights.

2. Submission Window

Submissions will be accepted from August 1, 2026 through August 30, 2026, or until 40 eligible

submissions have been received, whichever occurs first. Incomplete submissions may be deemed

ineligible.

3. No Submission Fee

There is no fee to submit. Submission does not guarantee selection.

4. Ownership

Authors retain all copyright, publishing, licensing, and intellectual property rights.

5. Review Rights

By submitting, authors grant Harbor Theatrics permission to distribute materials to its Literary

Committee solely for evaluation and to retain copies for internal review and archival purposes.

6. Feedback

Every eligible submission accepted into the initiative will receive personalized written feedback from

Harbor Theatrics' Literary Team. Feedback is constructive artistic commentary and does not

guarantee future production.

7. Selection

Harbor Theatrics has sole discretion regarding eligibility, finalists, and selection, and reserves the

right not to select a musical if no submission is deemed suitable.

8. Production Agreement

Selection does not constitute a binding production contract. A separate production agreement will

be negotiated with the selected author(s).

9. Script Revisions

Any suggested revisions will be collaborative and require the approval of the author(s).

10. Honorarium

The selected musical will receive a $250 honorarium according to the production agreement.

11. Production Rights

The selected author(s) agree to negotiate in good faith for the non-exclusive rights needed for the

Summer 2027 production. All future rights remain with the author(s).

12. Marketing

The selected author(s) grant Harbor Theatrics permission to use approved promotional materials

solely for marketing the Summer 2027 production.

13. Withdrawal

Authors may withdraw their submission at any time before selection by providing written notice.

14. Cancellation

Harbor Theatrics reserves the right to postpone, modify, or cancel the initiative due to unforeseen

circumstances.

15. Acceptance

Submission constitutes acceptance of these Terms & Conditions.

16. Confidentiality

Harbor Theatrics and its Literary Committee will treat all submitted materials as confidential and will

not distribute or publicly discuss them outside the official review process without the author's

permission.

17. Contact

Harbor Theatrics

St. Louis, Missouri

www.harbortheatrics.org

info@harbortheatrics.org