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Friday, January 3, 2014

10th Annual Premiere Stages Play Festival

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Premiere Stages, the professional theatre company in residence at Kean University, seeks submissions to the 10th Annual Premiere Stages Play Festival.

Agents may submit full scripts; playwrights may submit a synopsis and script sample directly.

Final deadline is January 15, 2014 and there is no fee to enter. 

Complete submission guidelines are available at www.kean.edu/premierestages

Premiere Stages is committed to supporting emerging and regional playwrights by developing and producing new plays.

Submission Guidelines

  • Plays must be full-length and have a cast size of no more than eight. 
  • Plays submitted must be unpublished and must be works that have not been previously produced (readings, workshops, showcases are okay). 
  • Plays must be written by playwrights who were born or reside in the greater metropolitan area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania). 
  • We seek to support a diverse group of writers and are especially interested in scripts that explore or address contemporary issues. We encourage writers to view our production history for a better understanding of the type of scripts that resonate with our audience. 
  • Musical Submissions and solo-shows will not be considered at this time. 
  • If you would like the script/synopsis returned, please include a SASE. 
  • DEADLINE for postmark of scripts/synopses is January 15, 2014. 
  • Playwrights must have schedule availability in the summer/early fall of 2014. 

Plays and synopses will be evaluated by a panel of arts professionals. The panel will submit their recommendations to the producing artistic director and resident dramaturg.

Playwrights (non-agent submissions)
Playwrights submitting without an agent must include:

  • A brief synopsis of the play (no more than half a page). 
  • A character breakdown. 
  • A history of the play’s development (if any). 
  • The playwright’s professional bio. 
  • A script sample from the play (no more than 10 pages). 

The panel will request full scripts from synopses of interest. Playwrights who are asked to submit full scripts, including those not selected for expanded development, will receive an evaluation of the submitted play from the panel upon request.

Agent submissions
Full scripts will be accepted from legitimate literary agencies and by professional
recommendation of someone with an affiliation to Premiere Stages. Agents may submit electronically (PDF format only).

The schedule for the Premiere Play Festival is as follows:
October 21, 2013: Premiere Stages begins accepting submissions
January 15, 2014: Deadline for submission to Festival (Postmark deadline)
February 27, 2014: Scripts are reduced to four finalists
March 13-March 16: Readings of four finalist plays
April 2014: Festival winner and runner-up are selected for expanded development
April to July: Development of scripts continues
Late June 2014: 29-hour Staged Reading of Runner-up
July or September 2014: Full Production of Festival Winner

Electronic Submissions (preferred method) should be sent via email to:
pfsubmit@kean.edu
 All materials should be attached as PDF.

Hard copy submissions can be mailed to:
John Wooten, Producing Artistic Director
Premiere Stages at Kean University
1000 Morris Avenue
Hutchinson Hall, 2nd Floor
Union, NJ 07083

Through our Play Festival script competition, Premiere Stages offers developmental opportunities to four playwrights. We provide playwrights with an encouraging and focused environment in which they can develop their work through discussions, rehearsals, sit-down readings, staged readings, and fully-produced Equity productions.

Four of the submitted plays will be selected as finalists, presented as staged readings with Equity casts March 13-16, 2014, and awarded cash prizes. Following the March readings, the winner of Play Festival is selected for a full Equity production during the 2014 Premiere Stages Mainstage Season and awarded $2000; a second play will be selected for a 29-Hour Staged Reading and be awarded $750, and the two other finalist writers will be awarded $500. Premiere Stages productions are consistently reviewed by The New York Times and scouted by major publishing houses. Multiple Festival plays have been honored by the American Theatre Critics Association.

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