Applications Open For The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2025 National Playwrights Conference

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center is now accepting applications for the 2025 National Playwrights Conference. The submission window will remain open through September 26, 2024, at 11:59pm PST.

Selected playwrights will receive a week-long workshop with a team of professional directors, dramaturgs, actors, and designers to aid in the exploration of the piece. Each workshop includes two script-in-hand public readings, which provide audience feedback as writers experiment and revise their plays. Writers also receive a multi-week residency on the O'Neill campus to use however they see fit.

"The National Playwrights Conference has always been a beacon for a broad range of writers with an incredible breadth of diversity of experiences and backgrounds, whose work, over time, has driven the evolution of the American Theater,” said National Playwrights Conference Artistic Director Melia Bensussen. “I'm really looking forward to reading the exciting new works that will be submitted this year, and to continue finding new ways to support that work in my second season as Artistic Director. If you are someone considering submitting your work in, please—send it our way. Your voice matters and we encourage you to submit your work to this very special place."

The O'Neill will once again employ an open script submission process for its founding program and invites all playwrights to share their work. Plays that have not yet received a professional production are eligible for the Conference, and the O'Neill welcomes submissions of all styles and genres. Scripts are reviewed blind, without writer names or contact information, and are accompanied by a character breakdown and the playwright's developmental and residency goals. Playwrights do not need an agent or professional representation to apply.

Scripts should be submitted via the online application form at https://bit.ly/npcapp25. A $15 fee offsets the costs of the administration of the application process and submission platform. If the fee is a barrier to submission, a number of waivers are also available on a first-come, first-serve basis and can be requested on the O'Neill's website prior to beginning an application.

More information about the National Playwrights Conference and its application process is available at www.theoneill.org/npc.