Urban Stage Emerging Playwright Award – Ongoing

Year-round submissions are accepted.

It begins with submitting your play and being selected for step 1 of our process - a staged reading. Out of hundreds of submissions a year, Urban Stage selects 10-15 plays for staged readings a year. From these, they select 1-3 plays annually to go on to our workshopping phase. The workshops are meant to prepare a play for their Off-Broadway stage. From the workshops, they select 1-2 plays for full productions, complete with a playwright’s contract and compensation (separate from the award).

The $500 Emerging Playwright Award (coupled with press coverage) is given to playwrights who show excellence and dedication throughout this process – from development to the stage.

Full-length plays only:

- Bind plays in 3-ring binders, in presentation folders, with brass fasteners, with paperclips, etc (spiral binding is discouraged)
- No changes or revisions accepted after submission
- No double-sided pages.
- 5 actors or less (unless otherwise noted)…More than 5 characters are fine as long as no more than 5 actors are required

With your submission, please include:
- Biography and/or author’s history of the play
- Character breakdown
- Brief synopsis of the play.
- A small SASE envelope for a response letter.
*Whole plays will no longer be returned. All plays will be recycled.

Plays MAY HAVE BEEN developed or produced elsewhere, BUT NEVER PRODUCED in New York City.

No limit to the number of submissions, but we do ask you not to submit the same play twice.
Subject matter and character variations are open. We do suggest you take a look at our past productions.

To enter, follow the instructions below:

Mail all plays to:
Urban Stages
555 Eighth Avenue, RM 1800
New York, NY 10018