Playwright Festival

Date: August 2020

The City Theatre of Independence Playwright Festival is an annual fundraising event for the theatre with four primary goals:

  1. To provide a creative outlet for playwrights to submit their unpublished, royalty-free short plays
  2. To produce a chosen number of short plays for an evening of quality entertainment
  3. To provide opportunities for participation in all aspects of theatre
  4. To expand the volunteer and membership base

How the Playwright Festival Works:

8 Plays Are Chosen

The selection committee reads all submitted plays, and chooses eight to produce. Each play is given to a different director, and auditions are held for casting.

No Budget

Since this is a fundraising event, there is no budget given for the productions. Directors must use existing props and costumes, and sets are minimal.

Voting & Awards

After each performance, audience members at the Playwright Festival are encouraged to vote for their favorite short play, and awards are given for Best Production and Best Script.

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Guidelines for Submission:

  • Eight short plays shall be selected for production in August 2020.
  • All submissions must be original, unpublished, one-act plays of between 10 and 15 minutes in length. No submission fee required.
  • Submissions must be received between February 1 and February 7, 2020.  The email address is playwrightsubmissionscti@gmail.com.
  • The first 75 qualifying submissions will be accepted.  After this quota is reached, no additional submissions will be accepted.
  • Any script selected for production will be presented in its originally submitted form. No post-submission changes will be allowed.
  • Any submission not adhering to the following shall be eliminated from consideration.
Submit Your Play

Subject & Content

Theme: Missouri

Scripts shall contain at least two and not more than five characters.
The stage will be bare, with no walls, doors, or floor coverings, no breakable props, minimal furniture.

Information & Guidelines

  1. All scripts must be submitted electronically via email in .pdf format. Two (2) copies of the script must be submitted. One (1) with all author identifying information the other MUST be completely Blind (NO author information).
  2. Scripts must include:
    • A separate cover page with the playwright’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and a short biography of the playwright
    • A cast of characters with descriptions
    • A brief synopsis
    • Numbered pages
  3. Playwrights will be notified via e-mail when their manuscript is received.
  4. Playwrights shall not submit more than two plays to be considered per festival year.
  5. Playwrights will be notified by May 15, 2020, if their play has been selected for production.
  6. Plays selected for production will be listed on our website, citytheatreofindependence.org.
  1. All production and publication rights remain the property of the playwright.
  2. City Theatre of Independence shall have the right to produce selected scripts without payment of royalties.
  3. Production will be at the discretion of City Theatre of Independence.
  4. Only stage plays will be considered. Musical, film or TV scripts will not be selected for production.
  5. All submissions must be original, unpublished, and not presented or produced prior to June 1, 2020.
  6. Scripts will be judged on concept, dramatic action, characterization, cast size, and dialogue. Technical requirements will be noted.
  7. Critical analysis or feedback will not be provided.
  8. Playwrights should be aware that the size of our stage is limited. There are no opportunities for elaborate scene changes.
  9. Please consider our audience and do not send sexually explicit or gratuitously violent or obscene scripts.
Submit Your Play

Please Direct Questions to playwrightfest@citytheatreofindependence.org

Call for Playwright Festival Directors

To submit to be a director of a Playwright Festival play. Starting May 1, 2020 email playwrightfest@citytheatreofindependence.org.

Auditions for the Playwright Festival will be in early June

Download Director Application