Howdy, Playwrights! Here’s a list of 35 play submission opportunities with September 2021 deadlines. This is just a small sample of what is in our mega-list available to paid members. Join now to get access!
| Name | Length | Nature of Opportunity | Deadline | Location | Add’l Info |
| Screencraft | 10-150 pages | Seeks plays that have great film or TV adaptation potential. Int’l submissions ok. Critique available for an extra fee. | 8/31/21 | Los Angeles, California | Fee: $49.50, $69.50, $79.50. (upgrade to a paid PSH membership for a 30%-off coupon code.) |
| American-Scandinavian Foundation | max 50 pages | Translations of drama written by a Nordic author born after 1900. | 9/1/21 | NYC | Prize: $2,500 |
| Culture Project | max 20 mins | Original work that has not been fully produced by artists who identify as womxn. Works-in-progress or part of a full-length piece. | 9/1/21 | NYC | n/a |
| Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts | See right. | 2-8 weeks residency. Submit up to 2 one-act plays or up to 2 excerpts from a longer work. | 9/1/21 | Nebraska City, Nebraska | App Fee: $35 $100 stipend per week |
| New York Classical Theatre | 70-150 mins | New, original plays that explore new ways of viewing the “classics,” expand our ideas of what “classics” can be, and challenge the power structures that undergird the notion of “classics.” USA based playwrights only. Play must be primarily in English. Bilingual plays, including ASL, are encouraged. | 9/1/21 | NYC | $200 to $500 stipend |
| The Players Theatre | n/a | Accepting proposals for original plays and musicals. Applicants are responsible for producing their show. | 9/1/21 | NYC | n/a |
| Ucross Foundation | Full Length | 2 to 6 weeks residency. | 9/1/21 | Ucross, Wyoming | App Fee: $40 |
| Two Strikes Theatre Collective | max 10 mins | Playwrights must identify as Black women or non-binary. The piece must feature a Black woman/non-binary protagonist. Theme: “BODY” – must include a mirror, shapewear, a fitting room, peach / “peach emoji”, BMI (Body Mass Index), Colorism, Brown Sugar. | 9/3/21 | Baltimore, Maryland | “stipend” |
| Exposition Review | max 4 pages | Publication opp. Complete scene. Theme: House Party | 9/5/21 | California | Fee: $5 “cash prize” |
| Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program | max 30 pages | For Playwriting: Applicants must have a significant body of independent work in the form. This will include, most typically, plays produced or under option. | 9/9/21 | Boston, Massachusetts | stipend of $78,000 |
| The PlayGround Experiment | max 2 mins | Monologues that represent America’s incredible diversity; can be historical or futuristic, cultural or political, comedic or tragic, spoken or signed. Must include the word “CHANGE” somewhere in the monologue. | 9/10/21 | TBA | “small stipend” |
| Main Street LIVE | max 30 mins | First play winner will have the full play produced and filmed. | 9/11/21 | Trinidad, Colorado | Fee: $15-25 |
| College of Saint Mary | One Act | Original works by playwrights across the nation, specifically those with all-female casts. Seeking scripts with an emphasis on code switching. Particularly interested in stories that incorporate more than one language, with an emphasis on the inclusion of Spanish. Any theme as long as code switching is utilized. | 9/13/21 | Omaha, Nebraska | Prize: $250 |
| Hodder Fellowship | 3,000 words (sample) | Fellowship for one 10-month academic year. Non-US citizens welcome to apply. | 9/14/21 | Princeton, New Jersey | Award: $86,000 |
| Princeton Arts Fellowship | 3,000 words (sample) | Fellowship for two consecutive 10-month academic years. Non-US citizens welcome to apply. | 9/14/21 | Princeton, New Jersey | Award: $86,000 |
| Hambidge | Full Length | 2 to 8 weeks residency. Residency fee is $250 per week. Offers several merit-based Distinguished Fellowships which remove the fees for a two-week residency and provide a $700 stipend. | 9/15/21 | Rabun Gap, Georgia | App Fee: $30 |
| Jentel Artist Residency | max 20 pages (sample) | Residencies for visual artists in all media & writers in creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry & playwrighting. | 9/15/21 | Banner, Wyoming | Fee: $30 |
| New Plains Review | One Act (max 12 pages) | Publication opp. Any style or subject matter. Unpublished works only. | 9/15/21 | Edmond, Oklahoma | Fee: $3 |
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| Playwrights First | Full Length | Int’l submissions ok. Not produced full scale prior to submission. Readings, workshops, and college productions ok. | 9/15/21 | NYC | Prize: $1,000 |
| Ponder Review | 10-15 pages | Script excerpt or short play, for use in any future anthologies, both digital and print. Must be unpublished. | 9/15/21 | n/a | Fee: $2 |
| The Breath Project | 8 mins and 46 secs | Submissions must be a recording of a live performance of original work that has been created in the past year. Open to artists of color who reside in the US. | 9/15/21 | n/a | n/a |
| Gallery Players | 10 mins | Plays written to be performed via Zoom. Must be un-produced. Readings ok. Must be the play’s world premiere. | 9/17/21 | Brooklyn, New York | n/a |
| John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (US and Canada Competition) | “samples” | Fellowship. All applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. or Canada. | 9/17/21 | NYC | n/a |
| Fusion | max 10 pages | No theme. All theatrical genres accepted. The script must never have been produced before September 23, 2021. Public readings ok. Int’l submissions ok. Musicals ok. | 9/19/21 | Albuquerque, New Mexico | Fee: $5 |
| SOOP Theatre Company | One Act (10-30 mins) | Original works ONLY! No fee to submit, but if chosen, there is a $75 registration fee. | 9/20/21 | Pelham, New York | No Fee Prize: $500 |
| Jan Michalski Foundation | n/s | Two week-, one-, two-, three- or six-month residency. No age or nationality restrictions. Beginners are accepted. | 9/21/21 | Switzerland | Monthly allowance of CHF 1200. |
| Fellowships at the Cullman Center | n/s | Fellowships for outstanding scholars and writers including playwrights. | 9/24/21 | NYC | stipend of up to $75,000 |
| American Academy in Berlin | n/s | Fellowship program. Restricted to candidates based permanently in the US. US citizenship is not required. | 9/27/21 | Germany | stipend of $5,000/month |
| Cape Cod Theatre Project | Full Length | The proposed play must still be in development and cannot have received a professional production, or a production that has been reviewed, prior to August 2021. Musicals ok. | 9/30/21 | Falmouth, Massachusetts | n/a |
| Kenyon Review | max 30 pages | Publication opp. Plays are accepted. Must not have been previously published either in print or online. | 9/30/21 | Gambier, Ohio | n/a |
| Piper Theatre Productions | 90-120 mins | New musicals from emerging artists. | 9/30/21 | NYC | $3000 honorarium |
| Stage Right Theatrics | max 20 mins | Plays that adhere to the tenets of the Natural Theatre, where hope and redemption overcome obstacles and suffering and where victimization and misplaced blame have no authority. | 9/30/21 | Columbus, Ohio | Fee: $10 |
| Long Wharf Theatre | Any length | Full-length, one act, 10-min scripts, musicals, adaptations, translations, virtual/Zoom plays. Plays by BIPOC writers, plays centering cultural narratives, stories of joy and resilience, multi-disciplinary work, and theatrical innovation. | Year Round | New Haven, Connecticut | n/a |
| Luna Stage | Full Length | Original plays. | Year Round | West Orange, New Jersey | n/a |
| Playwrights Offering Free Feedback | Full Length | Full-length trade program. You must read a play and give feedback, and in return will have an opp to send a play and get feedback from other playwright. | Year Round | n/a | n/a |
| Trade A Play Tuesday | 10 mins | Send in 10-min play and get same-day feedback. You must also read 10 pages of another playwright’s work, and give thoughtful feedback. Runs every Tuesday. | Year Round | n/a | n/a |
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Here’s what your fellow playwright have to say about PSH:
“PSH was recommended to me by a playwright I looked up to when I was first starting out. The price was reasonable, and it has been a great tool. I found a few opportunities that I could take advantage of with the few plays I had written at that time. Later in the summer I found out I had won a national contest, collecting many hundreds of dollars. The opportunities are varied and specific, with links provided so time is not wasted frolicking through websites to get to the information you need. PSH also gives a quick overview of what kind of material people are looking for out there. It helps me prioritize my work so that I’m offering plays with a better chance of seeing a stage. I’ve written to PSH with questions, and they were more than responsive, obviously passionate about the playwriting community. Yes, I highly recommend subscribing to PSH.”
– Dave Durham, Michigan Playwright