CU-Boulder’s 2016 New Play Festival
Call for Submissions
CU Boulder’s New Play Festival showcases the creative talents of CU-Boulder students/staff/faculty.
Staged readings and other events will take place 6-10 April 2016 in the Acting Studio. The festival will
include multiple events devoted to different forms of new plays.
New Play Readings will be staged readings of full-length plays. There will be 3 New Play Readings during
the festival. Accepted plays will receive development over a week of rehearsals. The playwrights will
work in collaboration with a director, dramaturg, and cast of actors to revise and grow their plays during
these rehearsals. Each play will receive one staged reading and feedback session during the festival.
Plays will be chosen by a script selection committee and reviewed by at least 2 readers blindly.
The Night of Shorts will be an evening devoted to staged readings of 10-minute plays. Accepted plays
will receive development during 2 rehearsals. The playwrights will work in collaboration with a director,
dramaturg, and cast of actors to revise and grow their plays during these rehearsals. All of the plays will
have a staged reading and there will be a group feedback session for all of the 10-minute plays. Plays will
be chosen by a script selection committee and reviewed by at least 2 readers blindly.
Recognizing that not all theatrical events are text-based, The Night of Shorts will also feature
presentations by individuals (or groups) of scenarios for site-specific work, an immersive work, a specactor scheme, etc. that is organized around design, an experience, an event, rather than starting with
text. The 5-10 minute presentation of the performance concept can be in any form, but PechaKucha is
encouraged. Proposals will be chosen by a script selection committee and reviewed by at least 2
readers blindly.
Recipe for Performance will be a presentation of performances, or performance concepts, from
collaborating artists. Exploring performance from outside the traditional boundaries of traditional, soleauthored scripts, groups of artists will collaborate to create a performance concept highlighting the skills
of each collaborator. Collaborators will submit a bio and sample of creative/technical work and will be
chosen and placed into groups by the selection committee. (Or, groups can apply.) Each group will be
given a prompt to kick-off their creative process. Rehearsals will be limited to 10 hours prior to
performance. The resulting 5-10 minute presentations of their devised work can take whatever shape
best suits the collaborators.
Submission Guidelines
Full-Length Plays: Full-length plays must be written by a CU-Boulder student/staff/faculty, be of
substantial length (normally somewhere between 70-120 pages in manuscript form), and not have been
previously professionally produced or published. Scripts need to be turned in with no identifying
information about the playwright. Please also include a cover page with the playwright’s name, contact
information and title of the script. Please email the cover page (as a PDF or .DOC/.DOCX) and script (as a
PDF with no identifying information) to cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com no later than 15 January 2016.
10-Minute Plays/Performance Scenarios: 10-minute plays must be written by a CU-Boulder
student/staff/faculty, be around 10 minutes in length (normally around 10 pages in manuscript form),
and not have been previously professionally produced or published. Scripts need to be turned in with no
identifying information about the playwright. Please also include a cover page with the playwright’s
name, contact information and title of the script. Please email the cover page (as a PDF or .DOC/.DOCX)
and script (as a PDF with no identifying information) to cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com no later than 15
January 2016.
Performance Scenarios: Proposals must be written by a CU-Boulder student/staff/faculty, keeping in
mind the presentation of the idea will be 5-10 minutes in length, and not have been previously
professionally produced or published. Proposals need to be turned in with no identifying information
about the author(s). Please also include a cover page with the author/designer’s name, contact
information, title of the event and a 100-300 word abstract of the scenario idea. Please email the cover
page (as a PDF or .DOC/.DOCX) and abstract (as a PDF with no identifying information) to
cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com no later than 15 January 2016.
Feel free to submit to as many of these calls as you want! Please send a separate email for each
submission/application. Only one full-length, one 10-minute play, and one Performance Scenario
submission per person.
Call for Collaborators
Recipe for Performance Collaborator: Artists and creators of any medium (dancers, composer, writers,
painters, sculptors, coders, builders, scientists, jugglers, basket-weavers etc. Seriously. ANY medium)
are encouraged to apply as a Performance Scenario Collaborator. Selected collaborators will be placed in
small groups with a diverse set of talents and given an abstract prompt to create a performance or
performance concept to be presented at the festival. Please submit a bio and access to a selection of
creative/technical work (website, photos, videos, whatever form is best for your work) to
cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com no later than 15 January 2016. If possible, try to combine your submission
into a single file.
Directors: Full-length plays as well as the 10-minute plays will each be assigned a director for their
staged readings. Directors will be a part of the selection committee and be responsible for attending
auditions, casting their assigned plays, coordinating rehearsals, giving feedback on their assigned plays
with their dramaturg and staging the reading of the new plays. Please submit a bio and resume to
cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com by 15 January 2016.
Dramaturgs: Full-length plays as well as the 10-minute plays will each be assigned a dramaturg.
Dramaturgs will be a part of the selection committee and be responsible for collaborating with the
playwright and directors on the development of the script, including coordinating feedback discussions,
asking questions about the play and mediating feedback to the playwright. No previous dramaturgy
experience is required. Please submit a bio and resume to cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com by 15 January
2016.
Selection Committee Volunteers: Our play submissions must be read by at least 2 readers blindly. If you
are interested in volunteering to be on the play reading committee, you must read and report on at
least 2 plays, if not more. This position is perfect for someone who wants to get involved, but not attend
rehearsals. Reading Committee Volunteers must not have submitted a play to the festival. Please submit
your interest and number of plays you would consider reading and reporting on to
cuboulderNPF16@gmail.com by 15 January 2016.
Actors: Audition to be an actor in the festival! Audition details will be released soon, but expect an
audition date in February. All auditions will be cold-readings of sides. Rehearsals will be limited and your
text will be in-hand for the performance. Flexibility, curiosity and a passion for the theatre are
requirements of any new play development actor!
While you may apply for any number of these roles, you will likely only be assigned one due to
scheduling realities. If you have a strong preference for a particular role, please include that
preference in your email applying for the role. Please send a separate email for each application.