Summer Playwrights Festival 16 Submission Info
THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY
Taylor Gilbert and Sam Anderson Present
The 16th Annual SUMMER PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
SUMMER PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL – SPF 16 – OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS ON JANUARY 2nd, 2025 at 12pm
- The 16th annual Summer Playwrights Festival will take place with staged readings over the course of ten days Friday, July 11 through Sunday, July 20, 2025 at The Road Mainstage on Magnolia Blvd in North Hollywood, California.
- 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.
- Our goal is to create a festival that welcomes all voices.
- This year we 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. We highly recommend you send in your plays as early as possible. Submissions will close February 2nd, 2025 at 12pm.
SPF ALUMNI:
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, and Zoe Perry.
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 (SPF 16):
-$20 for scripts starting at 31 pages (full length) and $15 for scripts under 31 pages (short form).