CALL FOR PLAYWRIGHT APPLICATIONS
SUBTEXT STUDIO TC - NEW PLAY FEST 2025
Subtext Studio Theatre Company is curating a new play festival that serves Chicago based emerging writers of the global majority, women writers, and trans and gender non-conforming writers that align with the theme haunted for our inaugural New Play Fest in summer 2025.
The theme haunted may be interpreted both literally and metaphorically, including plays that grapple with political differences in a community, grief of a people or a place, the complexities of lineage, accountability and complicity amidst resistance, seeking refuge, etc.
Plays that are bold and that inspire hope and/or continued conversations are strongly encouraged.
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About New Play Fest 2025
The New Play Fest 2025 is Subtext Studio TC’s new initiative to provide an abundance of opportunities to a diverse group of emerging playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, and actors. The festival will provide four plays and playwrights with 15-hours of development-focused hybrid rehearsals leading up to public readings with moderated post-show conversations in July or early August 2025. Selected playwrights will receive $200 honorariums for their writing and participation in the festival.
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Playwright Eligibility
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This opportunity is open to Black playwrights, playwrights of color, Indigenous playwrights, women playwrights, and/or trans and gender nonconforming playwrights.
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Applicants may not have had more than three plays fully produced or scheduled for production by a professional theater at the time of the application. (This does not include student productions, productions without an admission fee, or workshop productions.)
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Applicants must either be based in the Chicago-land area and able to attend rehearsals, or within the region (Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Eastern Iowa) and have access to housing and transportation independent of the New Play Fest.
Script Eligibility
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Plays must be unproduced and not scheduled for production at the time of application.
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Plays must be full length and between 60 – 200 pages
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Plays featuring 1-6 actors are recommended, but we are open to reading plays with up to 10 actors required. Please include instructions for any possible doubling with your character descriptions.
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Musicals are not accepted.
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Questions may be emailed to New Play Fest 2025 Producer Emma Durbin at NewPlayFest@SubtextStudioTC.org.
Please contact us before applying if any critical action, plot, or character arcs in your play are written in a language other than English. We are a small company, and we want to ensure we have the readers available to respond to your work.
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This engagement is supported by the Illinois Arts Council Agency.