Submit a Play
Open Submission Process
Due to Hurricane Sandy, we are extending our play submission deadline a week to Wednesday, Nov. 7th after the election. Our thoughts are with those on the East Coast!
Our next play submission window will be open from September 1 to November 7, 2012.
To submit your play or learn more about the submission process, please click this link to be taken to our submission page on LiteraryManager.org and follow the steps.
For further information or specific questions, please email us at literary@playwrightsfoundation.org.
The majority of Playwrights Foundation's programs are open to all playwrights writing in English and living in North America. The staff and a dedicated committee of Bay Area theater professionals carefully review each play, write in depth evaluations and meet regularly to share their thoughts. It is primarily through our open submission process that Playwrights Foundation Artistic Staff get acquainted with the work of a wide range of contemporary writers. Though each submission is directly considered for the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival, our largest and most public event, select writers will also be considered for other PF programs by invitation. Other opportunities include the Rough Readings Series, INKubator Workshops, and Producing Partnership and Commissioning programming. Bay Area playwrights are eligible for the Resident Playwrights Initiative, and will be invited to apply upon review. Through this process we seek to gain a depth of familiarity with the work of a large range of playwrights, and expose those writers to our advisory committee and creative partners. Special attention is given to Bay Area writers, emerging writers, and writers of color.
Bay Area Playwrights Festival
Five to six plays will be chosen for the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Winning Playwrights are paired with an artistic team comprised of a professional dramaturg, director, and actors, and receive two weeks of rehearsal and two rehearsed staged readings, separated by five-six days for rewrites. Local and national producers, theater artists and the general public are invited to the festival to see the staged readings, participate in special events and meet the playwrights.
Dates: Bay Area Playwrights Festival activities will occur July 19-28, 2013 at our home theater, The Thick House, in San Francisco.
Retreat: A pre-festival weekend retreat prior to rehearsal brings together artistic teams and playwrights to share work, thoughts and feedback with other festival participants. It is mandatory for playwrights to be in residence for the entire retreat and festival period, approximately July 10-28, 2013.
Financial arrangement: Stipend, travel, housing.
Award notification: By April 30, 2013
Other Programs
Each of our other programs are selected by recommendation through our Open Access Submission process, or by a recommendation from an active theater professional—an Artistic Director or Literary Manager, or director—at the discretion of PF's senior artistic staff. Read details and descriptions of PF programs.
Guidelines: Plays must be full-length, between 60-120 pages, unproduced and original. We do accept adaptations, but not translations. Only one submission per playwright. Plays that have previously received a workshop or university production are considered unproduced. Unfortunately, at this time, we cannot accommodate musicals for the Festival, but will read and consider musicals for other programs, as funding is available.
Award Notification: Playwrights are informed on a rolling notification schedule for programs other than the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival.
Questions: Send questions by email only to literary@playwrightsfoundation.org.
