Submissions Open for Red Bull Theater's SHORT NEW PLAY FESTIVAL

Submissions are open for Red Bull Theater's 16th Short New Play Festival 2026- Refinished. Six brand new 10-minute plays of heightened language and classic themes inspired by this year’s theme, “Refinished,” will be selected through an open submission process. These selections will premiere alongside commissions from Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You) and Betty Shamieh (Malvolio, Roar). The deadline for submissions is 12 Noon on Monday March 23rd.  

The Short New Play Festival is scheduled to be held on Monday June 22nd at Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space. The premieres will be directed by José Zayas and another to be announced.

Over the Short New Play Festival’s fifteen-year history, Red Bull Theater has cultivated over 4,000 new short plays of classic themes and heightened language, presenting over 100 of them in a one-night-only Festival performance with some of New York’s finest actors and directors. The commissioned playwrights have included Will Eno, Larissa FastHorse, Marcus Gardley, Madeleine George, John Guare, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Jeremy O. Harris, David Ives, Craig Lucas, Ellen McLaughlin, Robert O’Hara, Dael Orlandersmith, Heather Raffo, Theresa Rebeck, José Rivera, Anne Washburn, Doug Wright,  and Anna Ziegler, and winning entries by emerging writers such as Anchuli Felicia King, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Lynn Rosen, and Jen Silverman. Stage Rights has published a 5-volume collection of the plays from the first 10 years of Red Bull Theater’s annual Short New Play Festival as Red Bull Shorts. 
 

OPEN SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Red Bull Theater is looking for work with classical inspiration. This year, we are using the word “REFINISHED” as a jumping off point, inspired by George Bernard Shaw's Cymbeline, Refinished.Use this word and idea for your creative thematic juices. We're looking for a wild variety of revised endings to classics. Remember, the play you submit must have a self-contained beginning, middle, and end. Review our Mission, take a look through our history of Readings and Productions to see the kind of work we have done. Respond to a play we’ve produced or choose a classic of your own to adapt. You might riff on a classical character, borrow a classical setting, or be inspired to create a brand new style of dramatic verse. Finding inspiration from classics beyond the traditional Western canon is welcome. We hope you will be in dialogue with classical theater in a multitude of creative and surprising ways.​ Using the theme “Refinished” write a short play that: makes use of heightened language, and/or is in conversation with a classical theme, style, or story from any cultural tradition; is no more than 10 minutes in length; is self-contained with a beginning, middle and end; is an original, unpublished, and never previously produced new work. 

Plays will be selected based on: excellence of the work; relevance to Red Bull Theater’s mission; incorporation of the theme “Refinished;” and utilization of the classical conversation/heightened language guideline. There is a $10 submission fee. Submission fees partially offset open submission processing costs, commissioning fees, and other expenses.  Selected playwrights will receive a staged reading of their submission, performed by an ensemble company of some of New York City's finest actors as part of this year’s festival, scheduled for Monday June 22nd. Selected playwrights will also receive a commissioning fee of $400; travel reimbursement of up to $400 to attend the festival rehearsal and performance; will be consulted on choices for the shared ensemble cast; will have final script approval.