Road Theatre Company Calls For Submssions For Its 16th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival

The Road Theatre Company has announced the play submission process is now open for new material to be considered for their upcoming playwrights festival.

The 16th annual Summer Playwrights Festival will take place from Friday, July 11 through Sunday, July 20, 2025 and is now open for submissions. Annually, the festival mounts 20 - 30 staged readings of new plays in 10 exciting days at The Road on Magnolia in North Hollywood. The festival is one of the largest staged reading festivals in the nation, with playwrights from across the country and around the world participating. Each reading is followed by a talkback with the playwright, director, and although we receive hundreds of submissions for our festival, new and established playwrights are encouraged to submit. 

"We look forward to SPF16 with great anticipation to see our friends and patrons at The Road Theatre sharing in our mission to present and develop new work. It is with great pride that we are able to bring you premieres of all kinds and appreciate your participation in this important process. Supporting new work and new voices is essential to our community." says Founding Artistic Director, Taylor Gilbert. 

PAST PLAYWRIGHTS have included John Patrick Shanley, Steve Yockey, William Mastrosimone, Harrison David Rivers, Jami Brandli, Lisa B. Thompson, Franky D. Gonzalez, D.L. Coburn, Lisa Loomer, Sharr White, Marisa Wegrzyn, Craig Wright, Wendy MacLeod, Lucy Thurber, Mo Gaffney, Keith Huff, Brett Neveu, Scooter Pietsch, Craig Pospisil, Julie Marie Myatt, and Martyna Majok. 

GUEST ARTISTS have included Bryan Cranston, Laurie Metcalf, Jason Alexander, Zachary Quinto, Ann Cusack, Kathy Baker, Jennifer Tilly, Perry King, Rondi Reed, Tom Irwin, Nancy Travis, Gregory Harrison, Gale Harold, Robert Pine, Michael O'Neill, Harold Gould, Jon Polito, James Eckhouse, Lila Crawford.

This year they are limiting the number of submissions to the first 600 full-length plays and the first 200 short plays. After that limit is reached the submission page will be shut down. They highly recommend you send in your plays as early as possible. Submissions will close February 15, 2025 at 12pm.

One of the largest staged reading festivals in the nation, SPF hosts a diverse gathering of playwrights from across the country and around the world.

The Road’s Los Angeles location means we are able to cast our readings with a talented pool of professional actors. Casting adheres to the gender, race and other specifications of the playwright.

SPF stage readings are performed under the guidance of talented directors. Each staged reading has a number of rehearsals. In the spirit of collaboration playwrights are welcome to attend rehearsals of their play either in person or on Zoom.

SPF readings attract full houses of theatre savvy audiences including many artistic directors from other theatre companies eager to find challenging new works.

Every performance is followed by a moderator led talkback with the playwright and director. The goal is to create a festival that welcomes all voices.

Submission Guidelines:

-Each submission is read and evaluated by our artistic staff with recommendations made to the festival producers, who evaluate the plays and narrow the field to the final 20-30 scripts.

-This year, SPF will strive to further reduce bias from our evaluation process, while at the same time taking into consideration race, gender, and other factors in our choice of plays. We are asking the playwrights to remove all identifying information from their scripts.

-To be included in SPF 16, the work must remain unproduced on the west coast and unpublished through July 1, 2025. (Produced means for example actors were off book or  the performance included production elements such as costumes, lighting, sound effects and make up)

-No agent is required.

-ONLY electronic copy applications are accepted. No hard copies, please.

-The Road Theatre Company asks participants in the Summer Playwrights Festival for the right of first refusal to produce their play live on stage for 12 months following the end of the festival July 20, 2025. Please don’t hesitate to contact us, if you have any questions!

-Plays of all lengths (ten-minute, one-act, full-length) are eligible for submission, but NO MUSICALS OR SOLO SHOWS

-Official SPF 16 selections will be announced by June 1, 2025.

SUBMISSION FEE  is $20 for scripts starting at 31 pages (full length) and $15 for scripts under 31 pages (short form). 

For all inquiries and further information, contact spf@roadtheatre.org

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