Musical Theatre West Seeks Submissions For The 2023 MTW New Works Reading Festival

Musical Theatre West (MTW), Long Beach's premier theatre company, is seeking submissions for its third annual New Musical Festival. The festival is looking for writers who are interested in working on a staged reading of their musical in order to further its development and receive feedback. The chosen submissions will have the opportunity to present a staged reading of their works using Equity and Non-Equity actors in front of an audience of MTW patrons and industry professionals during a two-day festival in November 2023. The exact dates of the festival will be announced at a later date.

“We are thrilled to bring back our New Musical Festival for a third year,” shared Paul Garman, Executive Director and Producer of Musical Theatre West. “Last year's festival, hosted at the Assistance League in Long Beach, was a weekend of incredible musical theatre. The writers of the three new musicals, Hay Fever: The Musical, Missing Peace, and América Tropical, all had the opportunity to see their works in front of an audience of our loyal patrons and friends, and it led to some incredible conversations. Two of our selections from 2021 have recently gone on to fully staged productions, with On This Side of the World premiering at East West Players in Los Angeles, and The Importance of Being Earnest: A Wilde New Musical opening Whittier Community Theatre's 23-24 Season. We can't wait to see the exciting works from this year's applicants."

MTW strives to represent the diverse community of Long Beach that we service in all areas of our company, and encourages writers who represent various race, ethnicity, socioeconomic backgrounds, gender identity, age, physical ability, LGBTQIA+, and diverse viewpoints, to submit.

Submissions can be emailed to newworks@musical.org. Those submitting should include a script, cast size, song demo(s), contact information, and other pertinent information about your new musical. Please submit your package by August 28th. The selections will be announced by the end of September 2023. Selections will be presented under the AEA 29-hr staged reading guidelines. 

For more instructions, please visit musical.org/new-works.

If you are interested in getting involved with Musical Theatre West's New Works program or attending the staged readings, you can sign up HERE.