O'Neill Center Issues Call for Submissions to 2019 National Playwrights Conference

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center this week announced that is now accepting script submissions for the 2019 National Playwrights Conference. Writers may submit their new plays to the O'Neill's Open Submissions Process through Friday, October 12.

The National Playwrights Conference was established in 1964 as the founding program of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Led by NPC Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg, the conference supports playwrights during the creation and development of new plays. Writers of selected works will receive a July 2019 residency with a stipend, housing, meals, and transportation to support an intensive rehearsal process and two script-in-hand public readings with a professional cast and creative team.

Submission Details

Apply at www.theoneill.org/npc

Plays of any length or genre are eligible; however, to be included in the conference, the work must remain unproduced through July 31, 2019.

The submission fee is $35 and covers the cost of the process.

Early submissions are strongly encouraged.

No agent is required.

Both electronic and hard copy applications are accepted.

The O'Neill takes its mission for the discovery of new work and new artists to heart: over 1,400 scripts are submitted for consideration each year. Submissions are sent to readers across the country and read blindly, allowing volunteer readers to focus on each writer's voice and story, rather than a recognizable name or previous accomplishment. The large majority of plays developed each summer are drawn from these submissions. Out of eight selected works each summer, typically only one is an invited piece from established writers or collaborations with other institutions to help launch conversations with the larger national field.

"As we open the submissions for the 55th annual National Playwrights Conference, I look forward to building on our immense artistic legacy by discovering the most innovative and fearless storytellers of our time," says artistic director Wendy C. Goldberg.

During Goldberg's tenure more than 75 works have gone on to world premiere productions. The 2017-18 theatrical season saw the world premieres of Nomad Motel (NPC '15) by Carla Ching at City Theatre Company, Teenage Dick (NPC '16) by Mike Lew at The Public Theater in association with Ma-Yi Theater Company, Queens (NPC '17) by Martyna Majok with Lincoln Center Theater's LCT3, Against the Hillside (NPC '16) by Sylvia Khoury at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Fern Hill (NPC '17) by Michael Tucker at New Jersey Repertory Company.

Slated to premiere in the coming season are: The Burdens (NPC '16) by Matt Schatz at Pittsburgh's City Theater, Black Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galvan at The Geffen Playhouse, Lockdown(NPC '18) by Cori Thomas at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Endlings (NPC '18) by Celine Song at the American Repertory Theater, and Slave Play (NPC '18) by Jeremy O. Harris at New York Theatre Workshop.

The O'Neill continues to build an endowment to support Open Submissions. Initiated in 2006 with donations made in honor of O'Neill playwright Wendy Wasserstein, interest income helps support the submission and selection process.

The O'Neill will also host an online Q&A session about the process on the O'Neill Facebook page, Tuesday October 2, from 6 to 7 p.m EDT with literary manager Lexy Leuszler.

Visit www.theoneill.org for application and guidelines. Please direct any questions to the Literary Office at (860) 443-5378 ext. 227 or litoffice@theoneill.org.

About the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center: Founded in 1964, the O'Neill is the country's preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the American theater, and named in honor of Eugene O'Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and America's only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The O'Neill has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and thousands more emerging artists. Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full production at theaters around the world. O'Neill programs include the National Playwrights conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Critics Institute, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference and National Theater Institute - which offers six credit-earning undergraduate training programs. In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates Monte Cristo Cottage as a museum open to the public. The O'Neill is the recipient of two Tony Awards and National Medal of Arts.

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