Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Announces Application Windows For The 2023 National Playwrights Conference, and More

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center will begin accepting applications for its 2023 programming this month. This fall, submissions will be accepted for two of the O'Neill's signature summer conferences-the National Playwrights Conference and the National Music Theater Conference-as well as the spring 2023 semester of the National Theater Institute.

National Playwrights Conference

The National Playwrights Conference is the O'Neill's founding program; since 1964, it has developed more than 750 new plays. The 2023 Conference will continue this legacy with a group of outstanding new pieces selected through our open script submission process. We welcome all playwrights, regardless of location or agent representation, to share their work with us. The National Playwrights Conference application window will open on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, and will close on Thursday, September 29, 2022.

Selected playwrights will participate in the O'Neill's writer-driven development process, which allows them time to revise and experiment with their pieces while seeing their scripts directed and performed by a team of industry professionals.

"A cornerstone of the National Playwrights Conference is its open submission process, allowing any writer who has not yet had a professional production of their play to submit their work," said the conference's Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg. "Storytellers shape and document our cultural history, and it is always an honor to open our doors to the next generation of these storytellers."

In 2021, the O'Neill committed to reducing application fees for all of its professional programs with the ultimate goal of reaching a final fee of $15 by Fall 2024. In effort to reach this goal, the application fee for the 2023 National Playwrights Conference will be reduced to $25. If the fee poses a barrier to entry, applicants may request a fee waiver, available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information and NPC application guidelines, visit www.theoneill.org/npc.

National Music Theater Conference

The National Music Theater Conference supports the development of all styles and genres of music theater, including musicals, song cycles, operas, and hybrid pieces. Like the National Playwrights Conference, pieces will be selected through an open, blind script submission process. The National Music Theater Conference application window will open on Monday, October 3, 2022 and close on Monday, October 17, 2022.

Selected writers will be matched with a team of leading directors, performers, musicians, and more, as they spend two weeks workshopping their pieces. Writers receive audience feedback through public readings scheduled throughout the process as they continue to experiment with and refine their work.

"Musical theater is an art form with the potential to heal us, challenge us, and reveal our most common human vulnerabilities. NMTC is on the hunt for work that illuminates these tenets-and, in doing so, redefines what is possible in a musical," said Alexander Gemignani, Artistic Director of the National Music Theater Conference.

As a part of the O'Neill's commitment to reducing its application fees to $15 by Fall of 2024, the National Music Theater Conference fee will be lowered to $25 this year. For those to whom this poses a financial barrier, fee waivers will once again be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information and NMTC application guidelines, visit www.theoneill.org/nmtc.

National Theater Institute

With a singular schedule and an unmatched breadth of training, the National Theater Institute's semester-long programs offer students of all ages a springboard to the professional world. Through its offerings, actors, singers, directors, dancers, designers, playwrights, and composers of all ages are trained by master teachers and industry professionals.

"NTI is your laboratory, your practicum. An educational experience that asks for commitment, energy, talent, and heart," said Artistic Director Rachel Jett. "Come study on our historic campus: the artistic home of so many legendary and contemporary theater artists. The people you learn from are devoted to this craft and this artform, both its vitality and sustainability. They join you on your professional journey."

Applications from students interested in the spring 2023 semester will be accepted now through the deadline of Monday, October 24, 2022. The deadline for the summer and fall 2023 semesters will be in spring 2023. The application fee is $30.

Admitted students will join an ensemble to create and work for 13 weeks across all theatrical disciplines. The ensembles often move forward together as professional collaborators, whether as a playwright/director team, a composer/librettist team, or a group of actors starting a company. Students can also receive course credit for their work through Connecticut College.

"The common thread between all who attend NTI is that they are dedicated to making a life in the theater," Jett said. "NTI is the place where actors find they are also playwrights, where directors find they are also designers and dancers. Where new composers, choreographers, writers, directors, and actors realize that they can and want to do it all. As so many of our alums will attest: It is a life-changing experience."

For more information on programs offered this spring, visit www.nationaltheaterinstitute.org.

Submission windows for other O'Neill conferences will open in early 2023, and information about those deadlines will be released at a later date.

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