TERRENCE MCNALLY AWARD
Philadelphia Theatre Company
DEADLINE: June 2, 2026
INFO: Terrence McNally’s storied collaboration with Philadelphia Theatre Company included four world premieres, underscoring his long-standing commitment to Philadelphia’s vibrant cultural scene and thriving community of artists.
As a continuation of that commitment — and of Terrence’s deep belief in supporting early-career playwrights — the Terrence McNally Award was established to support one Philadelphia-based early-career playwright with financial resources, artistic support, and a public reading of their play at Philadelphia Theatre Company.
Past McNally Awardees have included Pulitzer Prize–winner James Ijames, Bill Cain, A. Zell Williams, Martín Zimmerman, Donja R. Love, Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters, and most recently MK Tuomanen, recipient of the 2024 Award for their play Night Science.
Under the stewardship of Artistic Directors Taibi Magar and Tyler Dobrowsky, and in partnership with the Terrence McNally Foundation, the Award continues with a renewed focus on identifying and championing the most promising early-career playwrights in Philadelphia — celebrating the extraordinary artistry, diversity, and bold storytelling rooted in this city.
PLAYWRIGHT ELIGIBILITY:
The applicant must have been born in, raised in, or currently reside in the Philadelphia area in order to be eligible for the Terrence McNally Award. The applicant will be asked how they identify as a Philadelphia writer; the intent of the criteria is to be inclusive.
The applicant must be over the age of 18.
The applicant must have a full-length play ready to submit for consideration.
The Terrence McNally Award is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may only win the award once.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION:
Please submit a full-length play written for the stage that you think best represents your work as a playwright. Terrence McNally’s plays were known to focus on three themes, which we hope our winning playwright will amplify: social justice, queer rights, and the transformative power of art. Please keep this in mind when choosing your submission.
Plays that have been fully produced more than once or published are not eligible for the Terrence McNally Award. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production will be considered.Plays may not be under option or commission at the time of submission.
Playwrights may submit a work that is co-authored, but only the submitting artist will be eligible for the award. The work submitted should be primarily in English.
Scripts must be typed and arranged in a professional play script format. Please provide a character breakdown with your play.
Please type your entry in a reasonable font and include stage directions where necessary.
Please submit your work as a .pdf so that all formatting will remain intact and no edits can be accidentally made while your submission is being reviewed.
Entries must be received by the deadline to be considered.
All entries are final, but playwrights will have the opportunity for feedback and revision between selection as a winner and any public presentation.
If you have representation, please include your representation’s contact information on the cover page of your submission, along with your preference for whom to contact (it may be the playwright directly)
AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT: September 9, 2026
ABOUT TERRENCE MCNALLY:
Terrence McNally was an American playwright, librettist, and LGBTQ+ trailblazer, described by The New York Times as “the bard of the American Theater.” One of the few playwrights of his generation to successfully move from the avant-garde to mainstream acclaim, McNally helped redefine American playwriting over six decades.
He was the recipient of five Tony Awards — two for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, two for the books to his musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime, and the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. His many honors include the 2011 Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award (he served as Vice President of the Guild from 1981–2001), the 2015 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame (1996), and induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2018). His legacy lives on through his plays, musicals, and operas performed worldwide, and through his papers housed at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Philadelphia Theatre Company mounted the world premieres of Master Class, Golden Age, Some Men, and Unusual Acts of Devotion, as well as the Philadelphia regional premieres of Love! Valour! Compassion!, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Mothers and Sons, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
philadelphiatheatrecompany.org/terrence-mcnally-award/
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2027 Marble House Family Residency
Marble House Project |📍Dorset, VT
DEADLINE: June 14, 2026, by 11:59pm ET
INFO: Marble House Project is a multidisciplinary artist residency program that fosters collaboration and the exchange of ideas, by providing an environment for artists across disciplines to live and work together. The residency is dedicated to ecological principles and integrates sustainable practices, including small-scale organic food production and waste conservation. Residents sustain their growth by engaging with the grounds while working on their artistic practice. Marble House Project is founded on the belief that the act of creating, whether in the studio or in nature, is how human potential expands and community thrives.
Marble House Project accepts approximately 50 residents and is open to artists living in the United States and abroad. You must be at least 21 years old. Each session accommodates eight artists and is specifically curated to bring together a diverse group of creative workers, to maximize potential for collaboration and dialogue while in residence and beyond.
Artists will be notified by email by the end of September.
RESIDENCY DATES FOR 2027
July 19th - August 2nd. Family Friendly Residency.
ABOUT MHP:
All residents live together in the historic, eight-bedroom Manley-Lefevre house, a communal space organized around responsibilities-sharing systems which highlight sustainability and community. The residency is an opportunity to develop and carry out practices of mutual support, group conversation, and to cultivate adaptive relationships with the environment. This can take the form of discussions with guest multidisciplinary artists, thinkers, and activists and other individual and group activities that benefit our community of residents.
Residents will be paired and asked to cook for shared dinners at least three times over the course of their residency, Monday-Friday. . Each session culminates with a short video interview and artists are invited to publicly share their work with our community and each other. Marble House Project provides private bedrooms, food, private studio space, and artist support. We are not able to cover costs related to travel or materials. There is no fee to attend the residency.
Applications are accepted in all creative fields including but not limited to writing, dance and choreography, performance, music composition and sound, film and video, visual arts, and culinary arts. Applications are reviewed by a jury of alumni and artists are selected based on quality of work, commitment to practice, and project description. Please choose the application that best describes your work. Two artists may apply together as a collaborative, and should complete one application with information about both artists Within each application you will be asked to select the session dates best for you.
If you are applying to the ecology residency you must have a project that aligns with this theme. You may also apply to the other residency sessions as well.
If you are applying to the family friendly residency, you must have a child with you between the ages of 4 to 14. You may also apply to other residencies as well but will be unable to bring your child.
Marble House Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. For exact dates, more information or questions about the residency, visit our FAQ page. If you still have questions you may contact info@marblehouseproject.org.
Personal information is not shared with our jury and will remain confidential. This includes email, home address, phone number and any information regarding your family, anything else you would need to tell us and how you heard about Marble House Project. All of our outreach questions also remain confidential and blind to our jury.
For more information on the ecology or family friendly residency please visit marblehouseproject.org/residency-details
marblehouseproject.submittable.com/submit
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The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)
DEADLINE: June 16, 2026, 5:00 pm ET
INFO: The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award is an $8,000 cash grant to be awarded to one (1) New York State-based playwright or screenwriter who self-identifies as LGBTQ+.
The Award honors the life and work of Ryan Hudak. Ryan was a gay playwright, theater maker, filmmaker, and a valued member of NYFA’s staff who served on the executive and development teams. Tragically, Ryan passed away in May 2022 after a long battle with Leukemia at the age of 32. The Award is open to playwrights and screenwriters who live in New York State, including those who live within the five boroughs of New York City.
ELIGIBILITY: The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award is open to New York State playwrights and screenwriters, including those who live within the five boroughs of New York City.
Applicants must:
Be a working playwright or screenwriter. Acceptable forms of playwriting or screenwriting include stageplays, screenplays, teleplays, libretti, radioplays, audiodramas, puppet plays, and experimental web series. While librettists may apply, audiotapes are not eligible.
Self-identify as LGBTQ+.
Be a current full-time resident of New York State for a minimum of 12 months at the time the application closes.
Be the originators of the work, i.e. screenwriters or playwrights, not interpretive artists such as actors. Collaborations are not eligible.
Be at least 25 years of age at the time the application closes.
Not be enrolled in a degree-seeking program of any kind.
Not have received The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award previously. Past recipients of other NYFA grant programs are eligible to apply.
Not be a NYFA employee, members of the NYFA Board of Trustees or Artists’ Advisory Committee, and/or an immediate family member of any of the above.
nyfa.org/awards-grants/the-ryan-hudak-lgbtq-dramatic-writing-award/
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2027 Short Play Festival Call for Scripts
Native Voices
DEADLINE: June 16, 2026
INFO: We at Native Voices believe that stories are medicine that lives inside every one of us. We believe representation matters, and for far too long, our stories have been absent from stages. Native Voices is proud to be the only equity theater in the United States dedicated to developing and producing new works for the stage by Alaska Native, First Nations, Native American, and Native Hawaiian playwrights.
THEME: All Our Relations and Their Baggage
They’re loving. They’re loud. They remember everything. And they make sure you never forget it!
This year, we turned to our own, asking our community what stories need to be told right now. The answer came back clear, consistent, and maybe a little too knowing:
Community is messy.
Our communities hold us—raise us, feed us, humble us, and sometimes…absolutely roast us. They are built on kinship, history, inside jokes, unspoken rules, and the occasional well-placed side-eye. And while community can be a fountain of strength and belonging, let’s be honest: it can also be complicated, chaotic, political, and deliciously messy.
Native Voices invites Native playwrights to lean into the beautiful disorder of community life. Give us the aunties who know too much. The cousins who say too much. The leaders who shouldn’t be leading. The gossip that somehow becomes truth. The love that survives all of it anyway.
We’re looking for short plays that explore the dynamics within our communities—the tensions, the humor, the contradictions, and the deep care that holds us together even when things fall apart. Whether it’s rez politics, urban Native networks, intertribal gatherings, family drama, or community group chats gone wild, we want stories that feel honest and specific, and that showcase what it means to be Native in today’s world.
Make us laugh. Make us cringe. Make us say, “Oh, no, you didn't.”
Community isn’t always tidy. But it’s ours. So buckle those seat belts! It’s going to be a wild ride!
PRIZE: Selected short plays will be performed in an afternoon of staged readings, where playwrights have a chance to win the Thomas Studie Gadugi Audience Prize of $500 and the Von Marie Atchley Playwright Award of $1,000. We ask that each play be 10 minutes in length or shorter. From our experience and the recorded history of past winners, the audiences and judges prefer comedies! Fresh, surprising perspectives are welcome. Originality is key!!
GUIDELINES:
Playwrights will be notified in November 2026 of the final status of their script.
*Scripts longer than 15 pages or read aloud for longer than 10 minutes or with the playwright’s name appearing anywhere on the script will not be accepted.
*A maximum of 5 characters is recommended. Doubling is encouraged, should it be
necessary to complete your vision.
CHECKLIST FOR ALL SUBMISSION TYPES:
We only accept electronic submissions in PDF format.
To submit, make sure you have everything on the checklist, click on the button above to fill out the form and upload your materials.
Blind Copy of Script
❏ Please label script as follows: TITLE OF PLAY.pdf
❏ All submissions must adhere to a standard play-script format (one-inch margins, #12 Times or Courier font, title page by itself, all pages numbered, and your name should be removed from the script itself).
❏ Include a thorough character breakdown and description at the beginning of your script. This can include the character's physical description, personality, and overall vibe.
So your script should go…
Page 1: Title of Your Play
Page 2: Thorough character list and descriptions
Page 3: The play itself begins
All Pages: Numbered!
Here is an example of a correctly formatted script: https://bit.ly/NativeVoicesExampleScript
2. Playwright Bio
❏ Provide a biography of about 100 words.
3. Playwright Photo
❏ Provide a photo (headshot) of at least 300dpi that will be used for publicity purposes.
❏ Please label attachment as follows: Author’s First and Last Name - PHOTO. (Example: John Doe - PHOTO).
nativevoices.co/call-for-scripts
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#WEWOMEN PLAY FESTIVAL
Artemisia Theatre |📍Chicago, IL
DEADLINE: July 1, 2026
SUBMISSION FEE: $5
INFO: Submissions for Artemisia Theatre’s 2026 #WeWomen Play Festival are now open. We’re seeking bold, original plays that challenge expectations, spark conversation, and examine the world through an intersectional feminist lens.
Selected plays will receive a staged reading as part of the festival, along with a post-show discussion in Chicago in the Fall 2026
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Length: Plays must be between 20 and 60 minutes in length.
Cast Size: Scripts should require no more than four actors. (Actors may play multiple roles if needed.)
Plays must engage with the world through an intersectional feminist lens.
Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not currently under option or scheduled for a full production in Chicago during the festival timeframe.
Scripts should be submitted in English, for a predominantly English-speaking reading committee; however, multilingual elements are welcome.
Please submit a PDF of the full script with standard play formatting.
Playwrights from Chicago are encouraged to apply, but submissions are open to writers from all locations.
COMPENSATION + PROCESS:
Selected playwrights will receive a $100 stipend.
Each selected play will receive two Zoom rehearsals with actors and a director prior to the staged reading.
Drafts must be finalized after 1st rehearsal and sent to Artemisia
Selected works may be recorded for digital use by Artemisia Theatre in the future (with notice and in alignment with artist agreements).
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Due to the volume of submissions, we will only reach out before final decisions if there is an issue with your application.
All applicants will be notified once the review process is complete.
Selected plays will receive a staged reading as part of the festival, along with a post-show discussion in Chicago in the Fall 2026