Grow with this festival

The eleventh annual Growing Stage Play-Reading

Festival, organised by New Jersey’s Theatre for Young Audiences, is inviting submissions of unpublished and unproduced plays with a minimum performance time of 45 minutes.

The theatre has a mission ‘to nurture the development of the performance arts through education and to create, produce and perform works that engage the entire family’, Submitted plays must align with this mission. Musicals submitted with a sample recording of the music and lyrics are eligible as are adaptations with proof of the author’s permission to adapt. BIPOC plays and playwrights are encouraged to submit.

Round one of judging, taking place 4-6 March 2022, will consist of staged readings, a post reading talkback, printed feedback and a video recording for the playwrights only.

The Festival itself will take place on 23 April 2022 when four finalists will present twenty minutes of selected scenes from their plays. These will gain a written critique from the theatre’s educational and artistic team and a winner then selected. Their play will gain a full production in the Growing Stage 2022-2023 season.

In the first instance submit in the body of an email your play title, a brief synopsis, the approximate running time and a cast breakdown. Include a note on any development history eg previous readings or productions and the intended audience ie Elementary, Middle School, High School, Family. The deadline for submissions is 31 December.

If your script is selected for the Festival a full script will be needed and your name should not appear on this but on a cover letter which also includes your address, telephone number and the play title.

Email: newplays@growingstage.com

Website: https://growingstage.com/growing-stage.new-play-reading-festival