This initiative highlights and supports the work of DMV playwrights and is an opportunity for playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and patrons to explore new plays.
Signature Theatre will continue its commitment to new work by presenting the seventh annual SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings Series. Now under the leadership of recently appointed Director of Artistic Development Anika Chapin, this initiative highlights and supports the work of DMV playwrights and is an opportunity for playwrights, actors, directors, designers, and patrons to explore new plays in a fun and informal environment.
Signature Theatre is accepting submissions for original and unpublished full-length plays (no musicals) from now through August 15, 2022. Playwrights must currently reside in Virginia, Maryland or DC. Only one submission per playwright. Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Plays may not be under option, commissioned, or scheduled for professional production at the time of submission.
Interested playwrights must submit a single PDF document and upload to Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com/request/LBEuYtgsyF3JvhknYSwA) with the following file name format:
NameOfPlay_AuthorLastName.pdf - for example: BestPlayEver_Jones.pdf
And include the following information within the pdf:
Author's full contact information: name, city & state of residence, email address, phone number
A synopsis of the play
A clear cast/character breakdown
Development history of the play (workshops, readings, etc, if applicable)
Short author biography
A perusal copy of the full play
Submission deadline: August 15, 2022
Playwrights whose scripts are selected will have the opportunity to rehearse their plays with professional actors and a director the day of the reading at Signature Theatre. A full list of the chosen plays will be released later this summer.
New Work at Signature Theatre is sponsored by Dan and Gloria Logan.
SigWorks: Monday Night New Play Readings Series has highlighted the work of DC area playwright's including Alona Bach, Bob Bartlett, Mardee Bennett, Audrey Cefaly, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Jarrin Davis, Annalisa Dias, Christine Evans, Aeneas Sagar Hemphill, Caleen Sinnette Jennings, Olivia Luzquinos, Heather McDonald, Vaughn Ryan Midder, Tuyet Thi Pham, Rahima R. Rice, Andrew Rosendorf, Will Snider, Dani Stoller, and Michael Trottier. Four plays on Signature's mainstage series have been developed as part of the Sigworks program including The Gulf by Audrey Cefaly, 4,380 Nights by Annalisa Dias, Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Heather McDonald, and Easy Women Smoking Loose Cigarettes by Dani Stoller.
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award®-winning regional theater that broadens and brightens the region's cultural landscape with its bold productions of challenging new and established works and engaging education and outreach programs. Founded in 1989 by Eric Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio, and currently under the leadership of Managing Director Maggie Boland and Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, musical theater is Signature's "signature," and the Theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects. Signature combines Broadway-caliber productions with intimate playing spaces and aims to be a leading force in U.S. musical theater.
Since its inception, the Theatre has produced 60 world premiere works-including 19 new musical commissions. Signature opens its doors to more than 100,000 people annually from the Washington, DC region and beyond and reaches more than 10,000 students every year through its innovative education programs, including the award-winning initiative Signature in the Schools. Signature has won 134 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region's professional theater and has been honored with 452 nominations.
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