Playwriting submission opportunities are available all year round. However, the heat of the season is around September 15th – December 1st. During this 10-11-week period, some of the most well-known theatres and organizations put their annual call out for new plays. Theatres and festivals like the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Great Plains Playwrights Conference, Seven Devils, and more.

Typically, the theatres hosting the festivals seek something fresh. They want new works. Plays written within the last year (sometimes two) and have never been produced.

Why? Well, festivals and residencies want to help playwrights develop their work. Festival curators provide the playwrights with dramaturgs, directors, actors, designers, and more. If your play is “complete” and ready for production, then the organization’s resources aren’t going to be of much help.

Theatre festivals also want to be the ones who discovered the hottest new play. If the play takes off, that theatre can be the one to say they discovered this exciting new piece of theatricality.

The demand for brand new plays requires us playwrights to churn out new pieces of writing or significant rewrites of an “older” play every year. We’ll get to why “older” is in quotation marks in a moment. If the play doesn’t get produced or selected for any opportunities, few playwriting contests will accept a resubmission of that same play next year. For better or worse, that means onto the next. And sadly, I’ve seen so many great pieces of writing stashed away in archived folders or dusty drawers, never to see the stage lights. These plays might be only 2-5 years young. Nothing old about that.

I’ve written before about how theatres can help those plays spread to future seasons at other organizations. You can check out that blog here and here for some extra tips.

​If you are ready to start submitting, remember that rejection comes with the territory. Don’t let that stand in your way. Use submission season to motivate you to sit down and write. Make that your goal. What happens with playwriting contests, awards, and festivals you cannot control. The act of writing you 100% can control.

Now, let’s explore how you can prepare for this remaining playwriting submission season.

Submission season can be summed up in three phases: Plan, execute, and evaluate.

At the end of the day, remember your time is just as valuable as the theatres and festivals you submit to. These submissions are hard work. Send your play where your time and talent are respected.

Here are just a few places you can find  submission opportunities for playwriting competitions, contests, and more. I divided them up into paid and free.  These sites I am providing curate your submission opportunities in one place making the search process a little more efficient.

Playwriting submissions can be overwhelming. Take back the control by preparing your play and yourself. You can’t control what happens after you press submit. You can control the time you spend searching for submissions, developing your play, and curating your submission materials. Whether you submit this year, next year, or the year after, remember that your time is precious. Get a head start by taking small steps now.

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I also provide classes on the business of playwriting. Please reach out to me if you want to learn how I can help your writing community.