“Musical Makers . . . where imagination meets the page and stage”
(also see Submission Opportunities, below, listed by deadlines)
• June
Festival of New Musicals presented in June by New Opera & Musical Theater Initiative of Boston.
• July–August
O’Neill Music Theater Conference, Waterford, CT
• July–August
Midtown International Theatre Festival, New York, NY (festival of new plays and musicals)
• August 10–11, 2002
Stages festival of new musicals, Chicago, IL
• September
National Alliance for Musical Theatre Annual Festival of New Musicals, New York City
• Oct. 18–Nov. 3, 2002
International Festival of Musical Theatre in Cardiff, Wales inaugural festival.
S U B M I S S I O N O P P O R T U N I T I E S
LISTED BY CURRENT and/or ANNUAL DEADLINE
January
• Midtown International Theatre Festival, New York, NY (festival of new plays and musicals)
February
• National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals–non-NAMT member organizationsApril
• National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals–NAMT member organizations
May
• BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (NY)—application deadline for bookwriters for class starting in following fall.
• Cedar Crest Stage Company bi-annual New Play Competition for plays and musicals with themes that emphasize the contributions of women and further elevate the image of women on stage.
• Robert R. Lehan Playwriting Award for one-acts, including musicals. Contact: Professor Jack Shea Theatre Arts Program Department of English Westfield State College 577 Western Avenue Westfield, MA 01086-1630.
June
• Camino Real Annual “Showoff” Playwriting Festival—10-minute plays, musicals considered.
July
• Moondance Film Festival—early deadline for competition; categories include stage play (including musicals), lyrics only, music only, full score (music + lyrics) and libretto categories.
August
• BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop (NY) application deadline for composer and lyricists for class starting in following fall.
• Theatre Building Chicago Writer’s Workshop (formerly New Tuners) for musical theatre composer, lyricists, bookwriters. Application for fall class.
October
• Moondance Film Festival—regular deadline for competition; categories include stage play (including musicals), lyrics only, music only, full score (music + lyrics) and libretto categories.
• Y.E.S New Play Festival—deadlines in October of even years with festivals in April of odd years; cash award, production and travel expenses; musicals accepted.
November
• Stages Festival—Stages is a weekend festival of new musicals presented by New Tuners Theatre. Stages takes place in the three-theatre complex of the Theatre Building in Chicago, usually around the beginning of August. Eight to twelve new musicals will be presented, each one in a particular format: Pitch, Sit-Down Reading, Staged Reading or Skeletal Production. Most musicals will be presented twice during the festival weekend.
December
• The Lois and Richard Rosenthal New Play Prize (submissions accepted annually from July 1–Dec. 31)—musicals accepted; production plus cash prize.
• Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Musical Theatre Award (cash prize) for writers who have had thir work prouced by commercial or not-for-profit theatre. Write for details.
• Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival KC/ACTF Musical Theatre Award (cash prize) for musical produced at ACTF-participating college or university; at least 50% of the writing team must be a full-time college student.
• National Young Playwrights Competition
The National Young Playwrights Competition is open to anyone age eighteen or younger. The play(s) you send can be original or adapted, play, musical or screenplay.
• ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop/ L.A. The ASCAP Foundation/Disney Musical Theater Workshop (in Los Angeles), directed by Stephen Schwartz, is part of an ongoing series of workshops sponsored by The ASCAP Foundation. The workshop offers musical theatre writers the opportunity to present selections form their original works-in-progress for professional critique. The ASCAP Foundation Workshops are free of charge and are open to everyone, regardless of performing right affiliation.
MULTIPLE DEADLINES
• AMTRL competition listings
• Playwrights on the Web listings
• Northwest Playwright Guild listing
• American Theatre Web
• Dramatists Sourcebook—comprehensive listing of opportunities, incuding theatre submission guidelines, contests, fellowships, prizes, workshops, publishing opportunities, etc.
• Market InSight for Playwrights—a newsletter listing submission opportubnities and deadlines.
• The Dramatist and The Newsletter, Dramatists Guild publications for members which include opportunities listings.
ONGOING/NON-DEADLINE
P R E S E N T E R S
• AMAS Musical Theatre is a non-profit, multi-racial theatrical organization dedicated to bringing people of all races, colors, creeds, religions, and national origins together through the performing arts. The musical theatre program provides opportunities for writers, composers, and lyricists to create new work, free of the pressures of the commercial stage. Musical Theatre programs include the Amas Six O’Clock Musical Theatre Lab, Amas Workshop Program, and Amas Mainstage Productions.
• ASCAP / MAC Cabaret Songwriters Showcase Co-sponsored by ASCAP and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC), this showcase program offers cabaret and theatre songwriters the opportunity to present new material before an audience of publishers and other songwriters.
• A.S.K. Theatre Projects Composer-Librettist workshop (L.A.); deadline November,
New Dramatists (NY), deadline January, Nautilus Music-Theatre (Minneapolis);
each offer a playwright-composer studio that focuses on the process of collaboration.
• Broadway On Sunset “First Look” competition
• Broadway USA offers a program for detailed evaluation and promotion (catalog) and presentation (staged reading) opportunities for selected shows.
• California Musical Theatre annually presents a new or classic musical written or performed by African-American artists as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial project.
• The Gay Straight Alliance of the University of Idaho is seeking scripts for the production of a gay-themed play/musical in March 2002. Any topics will be reviewed as long as the play is tasteful. some plays we are looking at are: ‘Romeo & Julius,’ ‘Whitman,’ ‘The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,’ ‘Now She Dances!,’ a gay variation on ‘The Doctor In Spite of Himself’ and ‘Beautiful Thing.’ We are looking for full length plays no more than 3 hours long. that have both male and female roles, with over 6 actors. Thanks. Scripts can be mailed to: JAMES HOWELLS—CO-CHAIRMAN, GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE OF UI. MCS 1418 1028 WEST SIXTH STREET, MOSCOW, IDAHO, USA 83843.
• Curtain Call productions, LLC/Baltimore
• Genesius Guild submission information for new musicals.
• Goodspeed Opera House submission guidelines for new musicals.
• Inneract Productions seeking quality plays and musicals (Click on “submissions” near bottom of blue column.)
• The New Jersey Repertory Company is a non-profit professional theater located in the heart of the ethnically diverse community of Long Branch. The primary mission of the theater is to develop and produce new plays with diverse themes. NJ Rep is proud to offer playwrights the opportunity to develop their new works in a creative setting, so in addition to NJ Rep’s Main Stage productions, 25–30 staged readings are presented each year. These readings give playwrights a chance to hear their play, discuss it with an audience and further develop it as needed. A discussion follows each reading.
• New Line Theatre accepts submissions of new, small-cast, issue-oriented musicals for production or readings...edgy, daring, provocative, alternative musical theatre.
• Playwrights Horizons submission guidelines.
• Prince Music Theatre specicializes in producing new musical theatre works.
• Theatre Works is comitted to cultivating new music theatre through their new works initiative. The program includes staged readings, workshops, special events, and main stage world premieres. They develop traditional and non-traditional musicals, plays with music, and plays with soundscapes.
• Theatreworks USA submission information.
• Village Theatre offers series of full productions of new musicals called Village Originals.
• West Cost Ensemble offers the WCE New Musical Works Development Program.
• Wings Theatre submission guidelines for The New Musicals Series and The Gay Play Series (including musicals).
P U B L I S H E R S / M U S I C D I S T R I B U T I O N S O U R C E S
• Broadway Play Publishing submission guidelines.
• Drama Source seeks G-rated plays and musicals. Email at dhoward@srv.net.
• Dramatic Publishing has an open submission policy and is always interested in receiving new plays and musicals to review for publication. Check out website under “FAQ” for submission procedures.
• Generic Plays represents plays and musicals by and about women, gay men and lesbians, and people pf color. Write genericplays@hotmail.com or Post Office Box 81 Bristol, TN 37621-0081 USA.
• Pioneer Drama Service submission guidelines.
• Footlight Records and Varese Sarabande specialize in sales of soundtracks CDs, including unpublished shows/scores. (Check them out if you have a good CD recording of your show.)
C O L L A B O R A T I O N C O N N E C T I O N
COMPOSER and BOOKWRITER SOUGHT
• Journey of a Thousand Cranes • by Jill Marshall-Work, composer/lyricist • HOME PAGE
(based in part on concepts, essays and interviews by Jill-Marshall-Work)
A young Japanese-American joins five soujourners of Japanese heritage as they attend the ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. In telling their unique but related stories, they find common threads in their lives and together they learn to make peace with their pasts as the teenager learns to appreciate the Japanese half of her own heritage.COMPOSER SOUGHT • by Paul Mendehall, lyricist • HOME PAGE
Lyricist/sometime librettist seeks a composer to collaborate with. I am traditional in my taste and abilities, and am best at musical comedy, though I can write nearly any kind of lyric very well. I prefer book-and-song shows to through-composed, though my mind is open on the subject. I currently live in Washington State, but am willing to work with people anywhere. (My last show was written with a composer in Philadelphia, and it worked-out very well!) I have had only one show performed, both here in WA and in NYC, but it was recieved very well. I was accepted into the BMI Workshop, but was unable to handle the cost of living in NYC. I have some ideas for shows, but would very much like to hear yours as well!
LYRICIST SOUGHT
by Michael Roberts, composer • HOME PAGE
Seeking a lyricist collaborator for future projects.LYRICIST SOUGHTby BOOK WRITER and COMPOSER
to complete a full-length musical being developed for family audiences. Contact Craig Bennett Hallenstein for synopsis, music samples and submission requirements via email or phone: 312-303-2080.
BOOKWRITERS, CO-LYRICISTS, CO-COMPOSERS, SCRIPT DOCTORS, ORCHESTRATORS SOUGHT
by Mel Atkey, composer/lyricist • HOME PAGE
Seeking collaborators for future projects.BOOKWRITER and LYRICIST SOUGHT
• Nanching • by Ken Lyen , composer • HOME PAGE
Love story of two youths during world war II massacre of 300,000 people in Nanjing by the Japanese.ALSO CHECK OUT:
• Undiscovered Musicals’ Collaboration Connection
• Australian Musical Theatre collaboration connection
• ASCAP Collaboration Corner for songwriters and musical theatre writers
• “Lonely Arts” in members area of New Musicals (must sign up as member)
• The Association of Canadian Librettists, Composers and Lyricists collaboration posting opportunity
W O R K S H O P S / C L A S S E S
ONGOING WRITERS WORKSHOPS and/or EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
• New Tuners/Chicago
• Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop/L.A. (818) 502-3309
• BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop/New York
• Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
• Mercury Workshop in London dedicated to the development and presentation of new musical theatre.
• The New Opera and Musical Theater Initiative nurtures and supports New England writers and composers of musical theater and opera in the creation of new works. NOMTI also strives to strengthen audience support and interest in new works through the presentation of works-in-progress for the musical stage.
• Musical Writers Playground, a peer-generated support organization with bimonthly feedback sessions and
the possibility of public performance of members' works-in-progress. MWP has produced six events in NYC,
has had one new piece optioned for Off-Broadway, and has received an award as outstanding new development organization in New York.
• Chicago chapter of Musical Makers, Chicago Musical Theatre Works: contact Patti McKenny.SHORT-TERM WORKSHOPS and/or EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
• A.S.K. Theatre Projects (L.A.); deadline November; New Dramatists (NY), deadline January; Nautilus Music-Theatre (Minneapolis) ; each offer a playwright-composer studio that focuses on the process of collaboration.
• ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop/New York and L.A.
• Dramatists Guild offers a series of seminars and symposiums for members. Topics have included: The Dos and Don’ts of Writers Workshops, Publishing Opportunities in Musical Theatre, Dramatists/Musical theatre Producers Exchange.
• Summer Musical Theatre Writing (for college sudents/adults) at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, July –August. An intensive, team-taught workshop that encourages composers, lyricists, and bookwriters to find their own voices and learn to merge their unique artistic visions with those of other collaborative artists to create exciting new songs in a theatrical context. Rotating teams write and present a series of projects culminating in a short musical theatre work. Theatre songwriting craft, issues of communication between artists of different disciplines, and storytelling through music and text are emphasized. Great musical theatre works of the 20th century are read and discussed to support the students’ examination of their own creative process. Composers should either be able to write their work down so that it can be played and performed by others or be prepared to perform their own work.
• Summer Musical Theatre Writing for High School Students and at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, July–August. An intensive introduction to the art of writing for the musical theatre for high school students entering their senior year. Writers and composers participate in a team-taught workshop in the art and craft of collaboration that offers study in theatre songwriting and principles of playwriting (bookwriting) for the musical theatre, stressing plot, character, and action. Students work in rotating teams on a series of projects, including ten-minute musicals. In addition, students watch tapes of major Broadway productions at the Theatre on Film and Tape collection at the Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and participate in discussions with industry professionals and Tisch faculty.
• Summer Songwriting Workshop at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The Summer Songwriting Workshop offers you the opportunity to immerse yourself in the art of songwritingÑat any level. Classes include Melody Writing, Lyric Writing, The Business of Songwriting, and MIDI Demo Techniques.ONLINE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
• Suite 101: Performing and Writing Musical Theatre • monthly musical theatre writing assignments
• The Unofficial “How-To-Write-A-Musical” FAQ
• The Playwriting Seminars
• Drama Workshop
• Practical Playwriting
• Suite 101 Playwriting