New York Children's Theater Festival 2015 Seeks Submissions; Deadline 8/18

Submissions for the fourth annual New York Children's Theater Festival will be accepted July 7, 2014 to August 18, 2014, it was announced today by Festival co-founders Michael Shawn Lewis, Chelsey Shannon and Renee Barnett. Now in its fourth year, The New York Children's Theater Festival continues to provide a birthplace in New York City for live children's entertainment and serve as a platform for writers and producers who are passionate about developing innovative theater for children, with the chance to have their work showcased on the New York stage.

According to Lewis, "We are thrilled at the success of our festival in its first three years and grateful to the thousands of people who saw our shows. Our audience continues to grow each season as we present creative, exciting and entertaining original new works for kids of all ages. We are proud to continue our mission to find wonderful talented playwrights from around the world, and our team of children's theater industry leaders eager to read the new submissions this summer, to be chosen for production in April and May of 2015."

Submissions to The New York Children's Theater Festival are free, and are adjudicated by an expert panel. The entire extensive process is anonymous. In addition, in an effort to assist the artists in their development, the Festival principals will provide feedback to finalists who are not chosen. "We want to offer professional feedback so that we can spark a conversation about interesting avenues of creative development for all submitted works. We want all of those who submit to get something productive out of this process," co-founder Shannon explains. In addition, those who submit will be invited to a fall symposium hosted by the Festival and experts in the field.

The spring 2015 Festival will feature four winning submissions. Musicals, plays, puppetry, event presentations, and any other live theatrical form of children's entertainment are encouraged. Work that has been previously produced may also be submitted for consideration. There is no fee for the submission process. All details at www.nyctfest.org.

All submissions will be read by a team of 30 industry professionals including artists, writers, producers and designers from leading national theaters, Broadway, and children's television. The finalists will be adjudicated by a Festival Panel of ten top industry leaders including participating advisory board members.

The New York Children's Theater Festival is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. More at www.nyctfest.org and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NYCTFest.