Getting a play from the page to the stage or into print requires more than just a finished script. The theater landscape is highly decentralized, meaning there is no single path to success, and sending a manuscript to a general inbox rarely yields results. Playwrights must adopt a targeted and strategic approach to submission. Success depends on aligning a script’s content and style with the specific mission of the receiving organization. This requires writers to identify suitable outlets and prepare materials that meet professional standards.
Targeting Theaters and Production Companies
Submitting a play directly to a production company is the primary avenue for securing a staged performance. A successful strategy starts with extensive research into a theater’s artistic mandate, which dictates the kind of work they produce, such as classical adaptations or experimental pieces. Playwrights should review a company’s past seasons to ensure their script fits the institution’s aesthetic and thematic profile.
The submission process varies significantly, often falling into categories like rolling, seasonal, or invitation-only. Larger regional and professional theaters often operate on a seasonal schedule, accepting scripts only during a narrow window. Smaller companies may have rolling deadlines or only accept agent submissions or scripts recommended by industry professionals. Community theaters often have the most accessible guidelines, sometimes accepting unsolicited submissions directly from the playwright. Requirements for cast size, technical demands, and production history status differ greatly between major, regional, and smaller venues.
Entering Playwriting Competitions and Festivals
Playwriting contests and festivals offer opportunities for exposure and developmental support that can lead to a full production or publication. These avenues often provide networking opportunities and feedback from dramaturgs and literary managers. Winning a major contest offers financial prizes and industry recognition, while festivals can offer a quicker path to seeing a work staged.
Full-Length Play Contests
Major national or international awards, such as the Yale Drama Series, typically seek polished, full-length plays. These awards frequently come with a cash prize, a staged reading, or guaranteed publication and distribution. Winning or placing in a prestigious contest can establish a playwright’s professional reputation. This often opens doors to agent representation and submissions to larger regional theaters.
Ten-Minute Play Festivals
Ten-minute play festivals serve as an entry point for new playwrights seeking immediate production experience and feedback. These short-form opportunities are popular with smaller theaters and provide a manageable format for learning the process of seeing a script transition from page to stage. They allow writers to experiment with structure and dialogue, often resulting in a small stipend or a staged performance.
State and Regional Awards
Targeting awards specific to a state or region reduces the volume of competition compared to national contests. These programs often prioritize playwrights who live within the geographic area or whose work addresses local themes. This provides a way to build a professional profile within a specific theater community. Winning a regional award can lead to developmental readings or production consideration at area theaters.
Themed or Genre-Specific Competitions
Many organizations host specialized contests that focus on a particular theme, genre, or demographic, such as plays for young audiences or historical dramas. Entering these niche competitions increases the likelihood of a script being read by an organization whose artistic mission aligns with the play’s content. This allows plays that might not fit a general theater’s season to find a suitable home.
Working with Literary Agents and Publishers
Securing a literary agent is necessary when a playwright seeks representation for major commercial productions, such as Broadway, or aims to establish a long-term professional career. Most theater agents prefer to represent writers who already have a track record of professional readings or productions. Therefore, a blind query is less likely to succeed than one based on a strong referral or contest win. Agents primarily manage contracts, negotiate royalties, and submit work to the largest theaters that only accept agented material.
Play publishers, such as Dramatists Play Service, license performance rights to theaters and distribute scripts for sale. These companies typically acquire new works after a successful, professional premiere production. Publishers rarely accept unsolicited manuscripts directly from the playwright. Instead, they rely on recommendations from agents, literary managers, or major playwriting competitions. Their focus is on commercializing a play’s future licensing potential, not on its initial development.
Pursuing Development and Residency Programs
Development and residency programs prioritize the improvement and refinement of the script rather than guaranteeing a full production. Residencies provide the playwright with dedicated time and space to write, often including a stipend and housing, allowing for concentrated work. Workshops focus on script polishing and provide feedback from professional dramaturgs, actors, and directors through staged readings or intensive rehearsal processes.
These opportunities, organized by institutions like the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group, help a writer build a professional network and strengthen a script’s structure. Participation in these programs is valued by theaters and agents as a sign that the script has undergone rigorous professional scrutiny. The focus on refinement provides a necessary step toward a production-ready script.
Utilizing Online Submission Databases
Playwrights can streamline their submission process by utilizing online databases and industry listing services. Platforms like the New Play Exchange (NPX) allow playwrights to upload scripts for discovery by literary managers and other theater professionals. Resources such as Play Submission Helper centralize and track hundreds of open calls for submissions, contests, and residencies worldwide.
These digital tools are mechanisms for finding and managing opportunities, not the receiving organization itself. They help the writer filter opportunities by criteria such as play length, genre, and geographic location. Using these databases provides a practical way to maintain a high volume of targeted submissions and track deadlines.
Preparing Your Materials for Submission
The final step before any submission is ensuring all materials adhere to professional standards, which measures a playwright’s professionalism. The script should follow standard formatting guidelines, such as those promoted by the Dramatists Guild. This typically recommends a 12-point Courier font and clear delineation of character names and stage directions. This uniform presentation ensures easy readability and allows professionals to accurately estimate the play’s running time.
Most organizations require supplementary documents in addition to the script. These include a concise synopsis of the plot, a detailed character breakdown listing age and gender specifications, and a history of the play’s previous development or production status. A professional cover letter or query must accompany the submission, clearly stating why the play fits the organization’s mandate. Adhering precisely to every submission guideline, including file type and margin size, is mandatory, as failure to comply can result in immediate disqualification.