Ashland New Plays Festival Opens Script Submissions for 2026 Fall Festival

Calling new and established playwrights! Ashland New Plays Festival will open script submissions for their 2026 Fall Festival on Wednesday, September 3rd. ANPF's annual Fall Festival is a weeklong celebration of the 4 winning plays selected from these submissions, which are received from playwrights all over the world. This process is made possible thanks to a dedicated team of about 70 volunteer readers who come together each year to read and discuss the 350 submissions with authorship unknown over the course of 6 months.

The scripts are assessed and scored until a group of finalists is sent to ANPF's artistic director, Jackie Apodaca, who chooses the winners. The playwrights of the featured plays are brought to Ashland for the Festival: a week of script-focused collaboration between the winning playwrights, professional actors, and directors. The festival culminates in two readings of each play before engaged Ashland audiences, followed by audience talkbacks.

The winning playwrights each receive a $1,500 honorarium, airfare, and local accommodations. ANPF accepts previously unproduced scripts only, and is looking for plays that are full-length drama or comedy, intermission preferred. Submissions close once 350 scripts are received, or on December 1, 2025, whichever comes first. A running tally of submissions may be viewed on our website's submission page.

There is a $20 submission fee.

Click here to view the complete list of criteria and submit your play starting September 3, 2025.

ANPF's 2026 Fall Festival will take place October 12-18.

The 2025 Fall Festival will take place this October 15-19. Learn more here.