GET WHAT YOU WANT
63 Opportunities · Fellowships · Residencies · Contests · Festivals · Commissions · Emergency Funds · Screen · Jobs
Deadlines run November 1, 2026 through mid-January 2027.
St. Lawrence University — The Foundry One-Act Play Festival [CLOSES TODAY]
Deadline: November 1, 2026 for professional playwrights. December 1, 2026 for students.
Website: https://www.stlawu.edu/news/university-theatre-announces-foundry-one-act-play-festival
Stipend and travel for professional playwrights · Amount not published · Canton, NY · Festival March 2027
A brand-new festival launching in March 2027, with a professional track that pays. The university says professional playwrights receive a stipend and travel, covered by an Arts Collaborative Grant, and spend time on campus for workshops and class visits.
The stipend amount, page limit, and cast limit are not in the announcement. They sit in the Google Form linked from the article. First-year festivals draw smaller piles, which helps your odds. Questions go to Dr. Angie Sweigart-Gallagher at asweigart@stlawu.edu. You have hours.
New Musical Project — 2027 Submissions [FREE TIER CLOSES TODAY]
Deadline: November 1, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Mountain, free. Late window through December 1 at $30 per show.
Website: https://form.jotform.com/262454720216149
Free today, $30 after · Up to three semi-staged readings · $100 to each finalist · Boulder, CO
Free if you send it today, $30 if you send it in November. Up to three winners get 30 minutes of their show as a semi-staged reading in Boulder, July 29 to August 1, 2027. Six to ten finalists get $100 and a cabaret slot. Interview requests go out December 18, and finalists are named February 1.
Send a 100-word synopsis, a cast breakdown with vocal ranges, a libretto excerpt of at least 30 pages, and three or more audio demos in a shared folder. Adaptations need written rights permission. The trap: broken or access-restricted links are not reviewed, so open your folder in a private browser window before you submit.
Juilliard — Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program
Deadline: Monday, November 2, 2026. Recommendations due December 15.
Website: https://www.juilliard.edu/arm/drama/college/playwriting/artist-diploma
Tuition-free · $60 fee, need-based waivers · Four or five fellows a year · New York, NY
Correction to the earlier draft of this issue, which said November 1: Juilliard's admissions page lists Monday, November 2 for the Artist Diploma in Playwriting. You have one extra day. The page names no living stipend, so budget for New York yourself.
Send one full-length play (a long one-act of an hour or more is allowed, full-length strongly preferred), a one-page personal statement, a résumé, and two artistic recommenders entered in the system. No musicals, screenplays, or TV scripts. Title only on the cover page. Reapplicants must send a new play. Decisions are slow: updates are not available before April 15.
Women in Film x The Black List — Episodic Lab, 2027
Deadline: November 2, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Pacific
Website: https://womeninfilm.org/programs/writing/
$40 per pilot for non-members · No cash award · Los Angeles-based TV writers
Six to eight TV writers, four weeks, in a room with the Black List and Women in Film. You must be sole author, have earned under $25,000 in TV writing, and be based in Los Angeles. Sessions are in person, starting March 2027.
The first read is 15 pages, read at least three times. If your pilot wakes up on page 20, it won't survive.
Manhattanville University — NEW WORKS at Manhattanville
Deadline: November 2, 2026. No time or zone posted, so send it today.
Website: https://forms.gle/SCZEZ7swBLr3165p9 · Listing: https://www.nycplaywrights.org/2026/10/manhattanville-universitys-school-of.html
$1,000 to each creative-team member, director included · No fee listed · One musical · Purchase, NY
One original musical gets a 29-hour developmental reading in fall 2027, performed by students in Manhattanville's Musical Theatre BFA program, with photo and video documentation. Every member of the creative team gets $1,000, and that includes the director, which is unusual. Bring your own director if you have one. Unfinished work is welcome as long as a complete draft exists by winter or spring 2027.
Rehearsals run September 25 and 26 during the day and September 27 to 30 in the evenings, with performances October 1 and 2, 2027. The team is expected at most rehearsals and both performances. Transportation from the White Plains Metro-North station can be arranged. Send a bio for each team member, the book or libretto as a PDF, and song samples through the form. Questions to newmusicals@mville.edu.
Caveat: Manhattanville's own site doesn't mention this call. It comes from the NYCPlaywrights and Playbill listings, which match each other.
Ensemble Studio Theatre — EST/Sloan Project Commissions
Deadline: November 3, 2026. The page prints the window as September 15 to November 3 with no year, which fits this cycle.
Website: https://www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org/commissions
New play commissions $5,000 to $10,000 · Rewrite commissions $2,000 to $5,000 · No fee · Science subject matter required
The most reliable playwriting money in the country if your work touches science. New Play Commissions run $5,000 to $10,000 on a proposal: a one-page description, outline, or synopsis plus a bio for each collaborator. Rewrite Commissions run $2,000 to $5,000 and need a 25-page sample and a statement of up to 500 words.
The subject list is specific: math, physics, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, anthropology, archaeology, computer science, engineering, space research grounded in existing technology, and medical research. Science fiction is out. So is the experience of having a disease, and so is psychology. The science has to drive the story. EST/Sloan does not commission plays for young audiences or develop musicals past the commission stage.
Abingdon Theatre Company — Raise the Page, Uplift the Word
Deadline: November 3, 2026, 11:59 p.m. No time zone posted. Assume Eastern.
Website: https://www.abingdontheatre.org/fsp2027
No fee · BIPOC playwrights · Short plays up to 40 pages · Performances February 2 and 3, 2027 · New York, NY
Abingdon's seventh annual BIPOC festival of short plays runs at AMT Theater on West 45th Street. Unpublished plays up to 40 pages, never presented to a New York audience, by writers at any experience level, anywhere, any age. One play per writer. Do not resubmit a play they have read unless it has changed significantly.
Forty pages is the useful number here. It's room for a short play too substantial for a ten-minute festival and not built for a full evening. No source says whether writers are paid, so assume not and ask. The page links two different submission forms, so start from the fsp2027 page rather than a forwarded link.
Trillium Arts — 2027 Individual Artist Residencies
Deadline: Wednesday, November 4, 2026, 11:59 p.m.
Website: https://www.trilliumartsnc.org/artist-residencies
$700 honorarium · No application or residency fee · Seven nights · Western North Carolina · 21+
A seven-night residency in April or October 2027, with a new $700 cash honorarium. The page names "writers, poets, dramatists." Optional mentorship costs $75.
The application is heavier than the week: a CV up to five pages, a one-page project description, a one-page "Why Trillium Arts?" statement (nature-based angles are favored), one outside recommendation, and a manuscript sample of up to 15 pages. The trap is the recommendation letter, which must speak to the project. Ask now. Decisions come mid-December.
SheNYC Arts — 2027 Festivals in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Dallas
Deadline: November 5, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Pacific
Website: https://shenycarts.org/she-nyc/
No fee · Theater, tech, and insurance provided · You run and fund rehearsals · Gender-marginalized writers
Use the link above. SheNYC's /submissions/ page still serves last year's "now closed" text in some browsers and caches, while the festival pages show the 2027 call. One application reaches all four festivals, and you rank your cities. Writers must be from a gender-marginalized group (cis women, trans and nonbinary writers), or teams must be at least 50 percent so. The NYC festival produces eight full-length plays and musicals a year.
Last month I asked who pays. Now we know. SheNYC supplies an off-Broadway theater rental with lighting, a sound setup, a five-hour tech slot, general liability insurance, and its producing team. You handle the entire rehearsal process before you get into the theater, which means you assemble and pay your cast and designers. Budget for that before you accept a slot.
Pick your city with intent. SheDFW provides a director, music director, and local cast for musicals through MusicalWriters.com. SheATL adds a dramaturgy process with Working Title Playwrights. NYC has the highest production bar and the most industry eyes. Scripts must be at least 75 percent finished and anonymous. Musicals need recordings of at least three full songs with real vocals. Solo shows need five minutes of video of the performer. AI may not write scenes or music, and any use must be disclosed. Finalists hear in February or March 2027.
Jacksonville State University — Southern Playwrights Competition
Deadline: November 8, 2026, received by. Send it by November 6.
Website: https://jsu.edu/english/community-engagement/southern-playwrites/index.html
$1,000 plus a reading · No entry fee listed · Southern natives and residents, past or present
$1,000 and a reading at the Kaleidoscope Festival of the Arts. The regional gate keeps the pool small: you must be a native or resident, current or former, of one of thirteen Southern states, and the play has to engage the Southern experience. A Mississippi-born writer in Brooklyn qualifies.
Original one-acts only, 45 minutes maximum, no musicals, no adaptations. Readings and workshops are fine; a prior Equity production is not. One play per writer. Email a Word or PDF file to Dr. Marija Reiff at mreiff@jsu.edu with a cover page carrying your title, contact information, your connection to the South, and a one-paragraph synopsis. Staff do not confirm receipt.
Nomad Theatre — Pop-Up Herstory (Herstories Detour)
Deadline: November 15, 2026, midnight, or the first 250 submissions
Website: https://forms.gle/gRffs8gzUb5vFe6A6
$25 per selected writer · Female-identifying and nonbinary writers · Open worldwide · Bloomington-Normal, IL
Nomad's own site would not render, so these terms come from the September NYCPlaywrights listing, updated October 24. The company will stage eight monologues or two-person scenes in a library's book stacks in March 2027. Each selected writer gets $25, so do this for the subject.
Each piece centers one or two real historical women or nonbinary people and cites at least one credible source on the cover page. Length is given as both 4 to 7 minutes and 5 to 6 minutes, so write to five and a half. One unpublished piece per writer, no musicals. Questions: nomadtheatresubmissions@gmail.com.
Lucille Lortel Theatre — NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship [PASS THIS ALONG]
Deadline: November 15, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern
Website: https://www.lortel.org/hspf · Application: https://tally.so/r/68BX5J
$500 per fellow · Free to apply · NYC public high school students only
Not for you. For the student in your life. Seven fellows, one from each borough plus one from a District 75 school and one from a District 79 school, meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., January 5 to March 23, 2027, in Midtown. Each gets $500, a mentor, a professional staged reading on March 22, and dinner and Broadway tickets along the way.
The application is a 500-word artistic statement, a one-to-three-page writing sample, and three story ideas of three to five sentences each. If you teach, forward this today. Questions to HSPF@lortel.org.
Pioneer Productions Company — 2027 New Plays
Deadline: November 15, 2026, or the first 100 submissions
Website: https://www.pioneerproductionscompany.org/workshops/2027-new-plays
No fee · Public staged readings · No pay stated · Morristown, NJ
Send up to two original, unpublished 10-minute plays by email. Selected plays get free public staged readings on March 31, April 14, and April 28, 2027, with audience discussion. Picks are announced by January 15. Selected writers must attend their reading.
The company page and a secondary listing give different email addresses. Use the one on the company page (newplays@pioneerproductionscompany.org) and confirm it before you send. A 100-play cap on a free call fills fast.
Maltz Jupiter Theatre — Breaking Ground Festival 2027
Deadline: November 16, 2026, synopsis round. Notification by November 30.
Website: https://form.jotform.com/262155357920054
No fee listed · Workshop week or 29-hour reading · Playwright pay not stated · Jupiter, FL
A large professional house opens its new-works festival, June 1 to 6, 2027, to plays and musicals. Selected writers choose a full-week workshop or a 29-hour reading. The form lists no fee and no playwright pay. Ask about both before you commit a week of June.
Round one is a 300-word synopsis, an artistic statement on how your lived experience shaped the work, production history, cast size, and a character breakdown. Musicals add three demos. Two rules sink people: uploading the full script in the character-breakdown field disqualifies you, and second-round scripts go through an AI detector.
Latinx Playwrights Circle — Intensive Mentorship 2027
Deadline: November 16, 2026.
Website: https://www.latinxplaywrights.com/intensive-mentorship-year-six
Artist stipend, amount not published · Mentor for a full-length play · Three table reads plus a public industry reading
A two-and-a-half-month mentorship on one full-length play. Fellows get a mentor, three private table reads, a public industry reading, selected classes at Primary Stages ESPA, and an artist stipend LPC doesn't put a number on. The program page also lists a residency at LPC, monthly work sessions, and industry resources.
The value is the relationship, not the reading. Earlier cycles required writers based in NYC or the tri-state area; the 2027 page doesn't restate it, so ask before applying from farther away. The application is a playwright questionnaire on a Google Form linked from the page. Open it early: the date lives inside the form.
Chicago Latino Theater Alliance — Latine Playwright Fellowship 2027
Deadline: November 16, 2026.
Website: https://www.clata.org/programs/Fellowship-Program-2027
$3,000 each to three fellows · Four months of mentorship · Staged reading at Inicios, May 2027 · Chicago
Three emerging Latine playwrights in Chicago get $3,000 each and four months of mentorship and workshops with Dr. Rey Andújar, ending in a staged reading at the spring Inicios festival in May 2027. Last cycle three semifinalists also got $1,000 each; this year's page doesn't mention that tier.
The page says the program serves playwrights "in Chicago" and lists no other eligibility rules or materials. Both are in the Google Form linked from the page. Open it this week, because the deadline is in there too.
Sundance Institute — 2027 Graton Fellowship
Deadline: November 16, 2026, 3:30 p.m. Pacific
Website: https://apply.sundance.org/res/p/2027gffaq
$25,000 each to two fellows · California Native artists · Narrative or documentary features
Two California Native artists receive $25,000 each for a feature in development or production, plus a year of mentorship and Sundance support. Proof of California tribal affiliation is required. No fee mentioned. Note the 3:30 p.m. cutoff, not midnight.
Stowe Story Labs — 2027 Narrative Labs
Deadline: Regular November 16, 2026. Late December 2. Both midnight Pacific.
Website: https://stowestorylabs.org/narrative-labs
$2,750 program fee if accepted · Fellowships and scholarships available · Stowe, VT
A four-day in-person intensive for emerging screenwriters and filmmakers, June 4 to 7 or September 3 to 6, 2027. The program fee excludes travel and lodging. Application fees ran $57 regular and $68 late, though I could not reconfirm them on the page.
Fellowships and scholarships, including WGA East, genre-feature, and horror fellowships, use the same application: say yes to the financial-support question and write a statement of need. Pay-to-play with good people in the room. Go in knowing that.
Audible — Emerging Playwrights Fund
Deadline: November 18, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern
Website: https://www.audible.com/blog/emerging-playwrights-fund-application
$25,000 each, up to five playwrights · No fee · US and UK residents, 18+
Up to five playwrights get $25,000 each to write an original audio play. The form wants one full-length original play in English, a bio of up to 300 words, and a pitch for an audio play. This cycle Audible prefers Action and Adventure or Core Fiction.
The stage play proves you can write. The pitch is what they are buying, so pitch a genre story that works without pictures. Read the rights terms: the standard agreement gives Audible exclusive worldwide audio rights in perpetuity and an option on live stage productions. Fine for a piece written for audio, a bad trade for your best stage property. One submission per applicant, no edits after you send.
The Players Theatre — LUV 2027 Short Play Festival
Deadline: November 20, 2026
Website: https://shortplaynyc.com/submit/
$50 tech fee if selected · $100 weekly audience prize · Greenwich Village
A love-themed short play and short musical festival at 115 MacDougal Street, three weekends in February 2027. Plays run 15 minutes and 15 pages or less, up to two per writer. Each week the audience picks a favorite worth $100 by PayPal.
Count the money: selected writers pay a non-refundable $50 tech fee, and you produce your own play while the theatre supplies the house, technicians, and box office. It is a Village credit, not a development opportunity, so send something finished.
Puffin Foundation — 2027 Theater Grants (Read Before Applying)
Deadline: Questionnaire November 20. Mailed form postmarked November 25. Proposal December 16, 5 p.m. Eastern.
Website: https://puffinfoundation.org/faqs
No fee stated · Funds productions and readings, not writing · US residents and nonprofits only
Last month's listing got this wrong. Puffin's FAQ says in so many words: "Playwriting is not supported." It will fund a production or staged reading of your play, not the writing of it. Proposals made in whole or part with AI are rejected. The FAQ prints no maximum grant, so I am not quoting one.
The process is a partly paper relay: online questionnaire, a request form you print and mail, then a portal proposal. Email is not accepted for the mailed step. Decisions take months, so don't hang a spring opening on it.
David Geffen School of Drama at Yale — MFA Playwriting
Deadline: November 23, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern. Fee waiver request must reach Admissions ten business days earlier, about November 9.
Website: https://www.drama.yale.edu/training/playwriting/application-requirements/
Full tuition scholarship · $110 fee · Three years · New Haven, CT
Three of the school's six yearly productions are new plays from the program. Round one is 15 to 20 pages from a single complete play. Finalists send the full play (100 pages maximum) and interview in New Haven. Three letters, and the statement of purpose gets "special attention."
The fee waiver is where people lose it: signed, notarized, original copy by mail, due ten business days early. Yale gives no critiques of samples.
Banff Centre — Playwrights Lab 2027 (Canada Only)
Deadline: November 25, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Mountain
Website: https://www.banffcentre.ca/programs/playwrights/playwrights-lab-2027
Canadian citizens and permanent residents only · CAD $4,123.35 fee covered by scholarship · $65 application fee
US writers should skip it. The ACA listing contradicts the official page on eligibility, and the official page governs.
Twelve days on the mountain, May 10 to 22, 2027. The program fee is fully covered by the Banff Arts Scholarship, but only if you complete the Financial Aid section in SlideRoom. Application fee 65(35 for Indigenous applicants). Send a two-page CV, a one-page cover letter, a script sample of up to 20 pages, and a one-page proposal. Anyone who attended a Banff residency in the past 12 months is ineligible.
Berliner Festspiele — Theatertreffen International Forum 2027
Deadline: November 26, 2026, 11:59 p.m. CET, which is 5:59 p.m. Eastern
Website: https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/das-festival/internationales-forum/forum-open-call · Portal for applicants outside German-speaking countries: https://portal.gap.goethe.de/en-US/
No fee · Travel, housing, per diem, insurance, and visa fees covered · 18 days in Berlin · Around 25 to 35, about five years of professional work
Theatertreffen is the most important showcase of German-language theatre, and for over 60 years it has brought around 30 early-career artists from around the world to watch all ten invited productions together. The Forum runs May 6 to 23, 2027, mostly at Uferstudios: workshops with international artists, artist talks, sessions with the festival director and the jury, and no pressure to produce anything. Text and dramaturgy are named disciplines, so playwrights qualify.
The 2027 theme is "The Art of Watching Theatre." Some listings circulating this month call it "The Art of Observation." Use the official title in your letter. The fellowship covers tickets, travel from wherever you apply, Berlin transit, a shared apartment with your own bedroom, per diem, and travel and health insurance and visa fees through the Goethe-Institut. Goethe-funded fellows are expected to give a presentation at the Goethe-Institut in their home country afterward.
The application is the most interesting one in this issue. A form, a photo answering "What does theatre look like for you today?", a two-page motivation letter on what drives your work, a remarkable production you've seen, and how you watch a show once it begins, a one-page CV, and up to ten pages of work samples. Good English required. Artists based outside Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, and Switzerland apply through the Goethe-Institut portal. The deciding factor is where you work, not where you live. Fellows are announced in late February.
Jaemi Theatre Company — Inaugural AAPI Theater Festival
Deadline: November 29, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern
Website: https://jaemitheatre.org/work
Artist stipend, amount not published · No fee mentioned · US-based AAPI playwrights · Staged readings in the DC, Maryland, Virginia area, May 2027
A new festival built on partnerships rather than self-production. Five staged readings at five partner theatres across the DMV, one evening a week for five weeks in May 2027: four new plays from this open call plus one Korean play in English translation. The theme is "Invisible."
Open to US-based playwrights who identify as Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander. DMV ties are a plus, not a requirement. One-acts and full-lengths up to two hours both qualify, previously produced plays are eligible, and you can submit more than one. Selected writers get what Jaemi calls fair artist stipends. Travel and housing are not covered this year. Submit through the Google Form on the page. Shortlist in December and January, picks in February. Questions to jaemitheatre@gmail.com.
Open Air — 2027-28 Residencies
Deadline: November 30, 2026
Website: https://www.openairmt.org/info-1
$35 a day stipend · Free housing and studio · $30 fee · Montana
Four to six weeks with free housing and studio and a $35 per day stipend. Playwriting, theater, and screenwriting are all named. Open worldwide at any career stage, and teams may apply. Add $10 for each of two optional additional sites. Email program@openairmt.org about fee help.
You pay your own travel and food. Materials were not in the listing I could read, so check the application page.
Kent Cultural Alliance — Spring 2027 Resident Artist Program
Deadline: December 1, 2026. Notification not stated.
Website: https://form.jotform.com/252384139180053 · Listing: https://artistcommunities.org/directory/organizations/kent-cultural-alliance
$7,500 stipend plus $2,500 travel and materials · No application or residency fee · US-based artists · Chestertown, MD
The best money in the residency category: six weeks, March 14 to April 24, 2027. Theater is among 37 listed disciplines. Emerging to established artists, individual acceptance even for collaborations, no pets. You get a private bedroom in shared housing, a private studio, performance space, and a shared kitchen. No meals.
Caveat: the program's own site was unreachable (the listing shows a mistyped domain), and playwriting is not named. This comes from the Alliance of Artists Communities listing. Email before you spend a week on materials.
Michener Center for Writers, UT Austin — MFA in Writing
Deadline: December 1, 2026, including all official transcripts. Outstanding letters by December 31, 11:59 p.m. Central.
Website: https://michener.utexas.edu/apply/
Three-year fellowship plus tuition · $65 domestic, $90 international · Playwrights and screenwriters eligible · Austin, TX
The best-funded writing MFA in the country. Earlier notes cited $36,500 a year plus tuition and insurance; the current page doesn't print the figure, so ask. Twelve seats from roughly 1,000 applicants.
Playwrights send one full-length play or two one-acts. Three recommenders. The trap: official transcripts from every school you attended, "no matter how briefly," must arrive by December 1. Order them this week.
Drury University — One-Act Play Competition
Deadline: Postmark December 1, 2026. Winners notified by April 1, 2027.
Website: https://www.drury.edu/theatre/one-act-play-competition/
$300 first, two $150 honorable mentions · No fee stated · Mail only
Last month's issue held this back because Drury's page showed 2024 dates. It now shows the 2026 cycle. Winners may be produced royalty free. Original, unpublished, unproduced one-acts of 20 to 45 minutes, one script per writer.
The traps are old-school: mail only, typed and firmly bound, and you want a self-addressed stamped postcard to confirm receipt. Email the department if you have any doubt before you mail a bound script.
Smith & Kraus — Best Women's and Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2027
Deadline: December 1, 2026. No time posted.
Website: https://www.nycplaywrights.org/2026/10/seeking-monologues-for-best-womens-and.html · Men's form: https://forms.gle/mND9W5rEkvhVTx1i8 · Women's form: https://forms.gle/4GcS5qbozBrn7ipd8
Publication · No fee stated · Payment not stated · Monologues from produced plays
The annual anthologies actors and acting teachers actually buy, which gives a strong monologue a second life in audition rooms. Publication, not production, and no payment is stated.
The 2027 call is thin on rules, so work from last year's: monologues of one to three minutes, with onstage action, drawn from plays produced during the preceding year (virtual-only productions didn't count), and one monologue per book. You can send one to each book. Ignore anything you've seen about submitting three selections; last cycle, extras went unread. Submit through the separate Google Forms.
Emory University — 2027-29 Playwriting Fellowship
Deadline: December 2, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Firm.
Website: https://creativewriting.emory.edu/people/positions.html · Apply: https://apply.interfolio.com/195571
$50,000 salary plus health benefits · $1,000 annual travel fund · Two years · Atlanta, GA
A salaried two-year post attached to Emory's BA in Playwriting, starting Fall 2027. The fellow teaches a 2-1 load of playwriting workshops and literature courses like Contemporary Drama, gives a public reading in the Creative Writing Reading Series, and develops a new play with Theater Emory over the two years. Renewal for year two depends on a positive first-year review. Fellows may also advise honors theses.
Required: an MFA in Playwriting or equivalent within the past eight years, plus teaching experience. A record of production or development at regional or national theatres is preferred. Eight years is a wider window than most postgraduate fellowships allow, so a writer who finished an MFA in 2019 is still in.
Submit a cover letter, CV, two letters of recommendation, and a full-length play with your name removed, all through Interfolio. Use the cover letter to say how the fellowship moves your career and to lay out your teaching philosophy, including mentoring students from different backgrounds. Emory says late applications will not be considered, and your recommenders' letters count toward that deadline. Ask them this week. Questions to Kathy Ly-Nguyen at klynguy@emory.edu.
Playwrights' Center — Jerome Fellowships 2027-29
Deadline: December 3, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Central. Two recommendation letters due by then too.
Website: https://pwcenter.org/programs/jerome-fellowships/
$25,000 a year plus $3,000 development · Health insurance · Two years · Minnesota residency required
Two years of salary for an early-career playwright, July 2027 through June 2029, with benefits including health insurance. No fee listed. Eligibility: no more than two plays fully produced by professional theatres.
The catch is that you must live in Minnesota for both years, with no more than ten weeks a year away, and the Center provides no housing or relocation. Apply through SlideRoom, and know that your Playwrights' Center member login does not work there. Make a separate account now.
Playwrights' Center — Many Voices Fellowships 2027-29
Deadline: December 3, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Central. Two recommendation letters due by then too.
Website: https://pwcenter.org/programs/many-voices-program/
$25,000 a year plus $3,000 development · Health insurance · Two years · Black, Indigenous, and playwrights of color
The Jerome's sibling, on the same SlideRoom application this year, so check both boxes deliberately if you qualify for both. Two years as a part-time employee of the Playwrights' Center, July 2027 through June 2029: $25,000 a year paid biweekly, $3,000 a year for play development, and employer-sponsored health insurance.
Open to early-career Black, Indigenous, and playwrights of color, 18 or older, authorized to work in the US, with no more than two plays fully produced by professional theatres. You don't need to live in Minnesota to apply, but fellows live there for the term, with no more than ten weeks a year away. No housing or relocation is provided. Send a résumé of up to three pages, a one-page artistic statement, a solo-written full-length script, and two letters. A Zoom info session runs November 4 at noon Central.
Sundance Institute — Episodic Alfred P. Sloan Science Grant
Deadline: December 3, 2026. Earlier notes said December 14, but that was the waiver code text, not a date.
Website: https://www.sundance.org/programs/episodic-storytelling/
$17,000 · $50 fee per project · Science-focused original series
$17,000 to one writer or two-person team for an original half-hour or hour series with a positive focus on science. Applications go through FilmFreeway: pilot PDF, bios, logline, synopsis, series overview, and statements. I could not confirm the waiver code works.
A playwright with a produced science play has a strong angle: adapt it. Science fiction reads poorly here.
Rattlestick Theater — Terrence McNally New Works Incubator, Cycle 5
Deadline: December 4, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern, or when 500 applications arrive
Website: https://www.rattlestick.org/terrence-mcnally-new-works-incubator
$10,000 stipend · No fee · Mentorship, three-week incubation, 29-hour workshop · 500-application cap
Rattlestick, the Terrence McNally Foundation, and Tom Kirdahy Productions fund three early-career playwrights a year. Each fellow gets a one-time $10,000 stipend to use as they see fit and a veteran playwright mentor who reads at least two drafts. Then comes a three-week incubation period with meetings with the literary teams at both Rattlestick and Tom Kirdahy Productions, and a 29-hour developmental workshop with paid collaborators that ends in an industry presentation. Recent mentors include Sarah Ruhl and Diana Son. Fellows are named in spring 2027, and the workshop runs August and September 2027.
The cap is the real deadline. Cycle 4 fellows were picked from a pool of 500 applications, which means the form filled. Apply in the first half of November, not the first week of December.
Every cycle so far has required fellows to live in New York City for the full fellowship and the following Rattlestick season, with housing and transportation not provided. The Cycle 5 rules sit on a linked requirements page, so confirm before you apply from outside the city. Anyone who will be a full- or part-time student during 2027-28 is ineligible. Co-written plays have been disqualified in past cycles; this is a sole-author program. Questions to tmincubator@rattlestick.org. No phone calls.
NRDC — Climate Storytelling Fellowship, 2027
Deadline: December 4, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Pacific, or when 500 qualified scripts arrive
Website: https://blcklst.com/programs/2027-nrdc-climate-storytelling-fellowship
$20,000 each to three fellows · No fee · Screenplays and pilots only · 500-script cap
Three writers get $20,000 each plus six months of mentorship to revise a feature or pilot. Writers keep all rights, and accepted scripts get a free month of hosting and a free evaluation. Climate must drive the story.
Stage plays are explicitly ineligible, so your climate play has to become a screenplay or pilot first. The cap is the real deadline, so submit in November. NRDC's own page still shows the old cycle. I confirmed terms through a secondary listing and could not confirm whether the cap has filled.
The Drama League and Chautauqua Theater Company — FutureNow 2027, Playwright Track
Deadline: December 7, 2026
Website: https://dramaleague.org/futurenow-directing-fellowships/
425aweekforfiveweeks(2,125) · Travel arranged by the Drama League · Apply as a director-playwright pair
You cannot apply alone. Playwrights apply as a pair with a director, and two pairs are selected. The playwright spends five contiguous weeks at Chautauqua Theater Company between June and August 2027, with a possible three more weeks pending funding, and the pair's play gets a workshop and a public staged reading. Add a Chautauqua gate pass valued at $3,315, lifetime Drama League membership, and a nationally known mentor.
The play must be unproduced and two hours or less. The actors are conservatory students aged 21 to 35, so a play built on a 70-year-old lead is a poor fit. The director's money is larger than the playwright's, so the case for applying is the time and the room, not the stipend.
Northwestern University — MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage
Deadline: December 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Pacific
Website: https://write.northwestern.edu/apply
Tuition plus stipend · Two years · Stage, film, and TV · Evanston, IL
Training across stage, film, and TV makes this the pick for a playwright who wants a room job afterward. The application fee and stipend amount are not printed on the page I could read.
Correction to earlier notes: this is more than a sample. You also submit an academic statement, a personal statement, a writer's statement, a one-page synopsis of a future project, transcripts, and three letters through CollegeNET. The sample is one full-length original play, screenplay, or television script.
Craigardan — Summer Residency
Deadline: December 15, 2026
Website: https://artistcommunities.org/directory/open-calls/call-summer-residency-applications
$25 fee · $750 a week after an automatic scholarship · Elizabethtown, NY
Reversing last month's note: the December 15 call is back on the Alliance of Artists Communities listing. Playwriting is named. The true cost is $2,300 a week, with a scholarship of $1,550 a week, so you pay $750 a week unless you win one of the competitive fellowships that cover it fully.
Craigardan's own site is a known stale page, so apply through the listing's link and ask about the earlier March 1 track.
Four Letter Word — The !@#$ Series New Play Workshop
Deadline: December 15, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern (per NYCPlaywrights; the company's own homepage still says submissions open "in October")
Website: https://www.four-letter-word.com/ · Listing: https://www.nycplaywrights.org/2026/10/four-letter-words-seeks-plays-for.html
No stipend · No fee stated · Four months of development · Public reading in New York, June 2027
A development program, not a contest, for a full-length play of 60 to 100 minutes that is still being written. You must own all the rights. If you think the script is locked, it's the wrong submission.
From February to June 2027, the playwright works through bimonthly revision sessions with Artistic Director H. Tait Brencher, gets two informal readings with actors and space provided, then five rehearsals with an early-career director toward a public reading that the company produces and promotes. The company says plainly that there is no stipend. What you get is four months of somebody taking your structure seriously. Questions to info@four-letter-word.com.
Yaddo — Winter Cycle
Deadline: December 20, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern. The portal opens November 20, not November 1, and closes early if it hits 1,600 applications.
Website: https://yaddo.org/apply/
$35 fee · Room, board, and studio · No stipend · Saratoga Springs, NY
Correcting last month's issue: the portal opens November 20. Two weeks to two months, with residencies running May 2027 through March 2028. Drama sits under Literature: a two-page preview and a 30-page play sample.
Samples are read blind, so strip your name. You can apply only every other calendar year, and degree students are ineligible. Apply the first week the portal opens, because the 1,600 cap can close it before the 20th of December.
Script Pipeline — 2027 TV Writing Contest
Deadline: Pre-register December 30, 2026 ($50). Later tiers run to May 31, 2027 at $75.
Website: https://scriptpipeline.com/contest/tv-writing-contest
$50 at this tier · $20,000 to the winner, $1,000 to each of five finalists
Original pilots or unproduced indie-series scripts. No specs. Unlimited entries, each with its own fee. The real value beyond the winner is circulation to managers and producers, which is real but not guaranteed. Winner announced August 2027.
Pioneer Drama Service — Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest
Deadline: December 31, 2026
Website: https://www.pioneerdrama.com/Playwrights/Contest.asp
$1,000 royalty advance plus publication · No entry fee mentioned · Winner by April 30, 2027
A publisher's contest. Every play Pioneer accepts for publication becomes a finalist. Write for the market: schools, community theatres, and youth, with big flexible casts and clean content.
Be clear-eyed that an advance is earned back from your own royalties. The real prize is the catalogue listing.
Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2027
Deadline: Work must open by December 31, 2026. The entry portal closes January 5, 2027, 5:30 p.m. Eastern.
Website: https://www.pulitzer.org/news/2027-pulitzer-prize-contest-open-drama-entries
$15,000 · $75 handling fee · Full-length plays that opened in the US in 2026
If your full-length play opened in the US during 2026, it's eligible. The questionnaire asks whether AI tools were used.
The trap is the account: new accounts on the entry site are approved by hand, which can take up to 24 business hours. Create yours in early December from a laptop, and if your producing theatre says it will enter the play, get a confirmation number.
The Orchard Project — Episodic Lab 2027
Deadline: January 3, 2027, 11:59 p.m. Eastern. Window opens November 9.
Website: https://orchardproject.com/op-episodic-lab/
Free to apply and attend · Virtual · No agent or credit needed
A virtual six-week program starting in June with two group meetings a week, script feedback, a guided writers' room, mock pitch events, and pitch coaching. Open to anyone, no age limit, and the lab says it wants people with a live-performance background.
Send a logline, series description, vision statement, and a pilot draft. Orchard takes no royalties, only a credit agreement. A good door for a playwright with no TV credit.
Kumu Kahua Theatre — 2027 Playwriting Contest
Deadline: January 4, 2027
Website: https://www.kumukahua.org/playwritingcontest
$600 Hawai'i Prize · $450 Pacific Rim Prize · $250 Resident Prize · No fee stated · Honolulu
Honolulu's home for plays about life in Hawai'i. The Hawai'i Prize and Pacific Rim Prize are open to writers anywhere for full-length plays of at least 50 pages. The Resident Prize is for Hawai'i residents. Judging is blind, with a pen name on the script.
Two warnings. The guidelines ask for your Social Security number with the entry; call the office first and ask whether they'll collect it only from winners. And Kumu Kahua holds first production rights for two years on winners.
Anderson Center — 2027 Early Career Residency for NYC and Minnesota Artists
Deadline: Tuesday, January 12, 2027, noon Central
Website: https://theandersoncenter.submittable.com/submit/362567/2027-early-career-residency-for-nyc-and-minnesota-artists · General residency: https://theandersoncenter.submittable.com/submit/362590/2027-anderson-center-residency
$2,500 stipend · Travel honorarium and $450 documentation budget · No fee · NYC and Minnesota residents
The best money-to-effort ratio in this window if you qualify. Four weeks, September 2 to 29, 2027, with 625aweek,atravelhonorarium(550 from NYC, $150 from Minnesota), a $450 documentation budget, lodging, studio, and weekday dinners.
You must have lived in and filed federal taxes in NYC or Minnesota for at least a year, and you'll have to prove it. Degree students are out. Playwrights are eligible with a 10-page excerpt. The dates are fixed. The general Anderson Center residency has the same deadline, a $30 fee, and no stipend.
Playwrights' Center — McKnight Fellowships in Playwriting
Deadline: Thursday, January 14, 2027, 11:59 p.m. Central
Website: https://pwcenter.org/programs/mcknight-fellowship-in-playwriting/
$25,000 stipend plus $2,500 development and $1,400 travel · Minnesota residents · Mid-career
The Minnesota-resident counterpart to the national commission below, and easy to confuse with it. One year, July 2027 through June 2028. You must have lived in Minnesota continuously since at least January 14, 2026, and stay through the fellowship year.
Mid-career means at least one work of 45 minutes or more fully produced by a professional theatre that paid you, with at least three public performances. One-acts, university, and amateur productions don't count. Full-time students, recent McKnight fellows, and anyone holding another Playwrights' Center fellowship that year are out. Apply through SlideRoom with a résumé, a one-page artistic statement, a solo-written full-length script, and two references (contacts, not letters).
Playwrights' Center — McKnight National Residency and Commission
Deadline: January 14, 2027, 11:59 p.m. Central
Website: https://pwcenter.org/programs/mcknight-national-residency-and-commission/
$15,000 commission plus up to $12,250 in workshop funds · Established playwrights outside Minnesota
Develop a new play with the Playwrights' Center, ending in a public reading. You need at least two plays fully produced by professional theatres.
Apply through SlideRoom with a résumé, a full-length writing sample that is NOT the proposed play, a proposal of up to three pages for a play with no full draft yet, and one letter. Proposing a play you've already drafted disqualifies the proposal.
Monson Arts, Ucross, VCCA, and Hambidge — Mid-January Residencies
Deadline: January 15, 2027 for all four. The year is not printed on several pages but fits the annual cycle.
Website: https://www.monsonarts.org/residencies · https://ucrossfoundation.org/residency-program.html · https://www.vcca.com/apply/ · https://www.hambidge.org/residency
Four residencies, one date · Stipends at Monson and Hambidge · Fees run $0 to $30
Monson Arts in Maine is the one that names playwrights and pays: a $500 stipend for four weeks or $250 for two, a private studio and bedroom, and all meals. Its window opens December 1. Ucross in Wyoming (Fall 2027, opens November 1) is free of charge for two to six weeks; it lists writers and performance artists but not playwrights by name.
VCCA in Virginia has a playwriting and screenwriting panel, charges $105 a day without a fellowship, offers fully funded fellowships, and has a $30 fee. Hambidge in Georgia costs the resident $300 a week against a true cost of $2,250, with a $30 fee and a Distinguished Fellowship for first-timers that waives two weeks and pays $700. Apply to all of them. The samples are short.
ROLLING DEADLINES
Kumu Kahua Theatre — Go Try Play Write
Deadline: The last day of each month, including November 30 and December 31, 2026
Website: https://www.kumukahua.org/gotryplaywrite
$100 plus a Bamboo Ridge Press subscription · No fee
Each month Kumu Kahua and Bamboo Ridge Press post a prompt and pay one anonymous winner. Standard format, Google Form. No fee or residency rule stated.
A writing exercise with a small payout that leaves you with ten clean pages for a short-play festival later. I did not recheck this one on the live page this week, and last month the prompt was posted late, so look before you write.
Royal Court Theatre — Open Script Submissions
Deadline: Rolling, if open. No page states current status. Email literary@royalcourttheatre.com before you send.
Website: https://royalcourttheatre.com/playwriting/submissions-invitations/script-submissions
No fee · Open to writers anywhere writing in English · London
A rare major British house that still reads Americans. Original full-length plays only, roughly 50 pages or more, PDF or Word through the online form. No screenplays or adaptations.
One play at a time and no resubmitting a play they have read. Expect three to four months for a response.
EMERGENCY & MEDICAL FUNDS
Dramatists Guild Foundation — Crisis Relief and Bridge Grants
Deadline: Rolling through December 14, 2026. 2027 applications open January 4, 2027.
Website: https://dgf.org/grants/crisis-relief-grants/ · Bridge Grants: https://dgf.org/grants/bridge-grants/
Bridge Grants $500, once per lifetime · Crisis Relief amount not published · No fee · Theatre writers only
The only emergency money in the country built for theatre writers, and it pauses for three weeks over the holidays. If you are in trouble in early December, file before the 14th. Crisis Relief covers a recent, unexpected, disruptive emergency. Bridge Grants are for non-emergency gaps. Ask grants@dgf.org for the current Crisis Relief range.
Eligibility as the current pages state: 18 or older, living and working in the US, under $15,000 across all bank accounts, and three of six professional criteria. Do not apply to both funds at once.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts — Emergency Grants
Deadline: Rolling. Apply 8 to 10 weeks before your public date.
Website: https://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/grants/emergency-grants/guidelines/
No fee · Production emergencies, not personal ones · US residents · 36-month wait to reapply
It pays for a confirmed public presentation of finished work when money falls through: artists' fees, travel, materials, production. Rent, food, and medical bills are out, and workshop readings of plays are ineligible.
US residents with a US tax ID, not enrolled in a degree program. I could not confirm the dollar range on the current page, so ask.
Authors League Fund
Deadline: Rolling
Website: https://authorsleaguefund.org/apply/
Non-taxable grants · No fee · Produced or published playwrights and book writers
Playwrights are named: full-length plays produced at mid-size or large theatres, or published by an established dramatic press. Book writers of musicals and operas qualify since 2024. Lyricists and screenwriters do not.
Modest help for illness, eviction, disaster, or major income loss. It will not pay for writing time, equipment, or production. Phone (212) 268-1208.
Horowitz-Sondheim Clinic for Theater Artists (NYPSI)
Deadline: Rolling
Website: https://www.nypsi.org/horowitz-sondheim-clinic
Sliding-scale therapy · Playwrights, composers, and lyricists · Manhattan
A clinic funded by the Stephen Sondheim Foundation for theatre writers: psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and psychological testing on a sliding scale. No medication is prescribed.
Psychoanalysis needs two in-person sessions a week at 247 East 82nd Street. Download the application from the page or call 212.879.6900.
Not for playwrights, despite the name: Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants (playwriting is not an eligible discipline), CERF+ (craft artists), and Carnegie Fund for Authors (published books only).
JOBS — THEATRE, LITERARY & ACADEMIC
Villanova University — Assistant Professor of Playwriting, Tenure Track
Deadline: October's issue gave October 23 for review to begin. Apply now.
Website: https://jobs.villanova.edu/postings/36362 · Listing: https://lmda.org/news/asst-professor-of-playwriting-tenure-track-villanova-university-dept-of-theatre/
$68,000 to $74,000 · Tenure-track · Terminal degree required · Villanova, PA · Starts fall 2027
Carried over from October, now with a salary. LMDA's listing posts the range at $68,000 to $74,000. Use posting number 36362. A version of this list circulating this week gives 36456, which doesn't exist.
The job wants a working playwright with a professional production record and university teaching experience, teaching graduate and undergraduate playwriting. Villanova's portal blocks automated reading, so open it in a browser and confirm the review date before you treat it as open-ended.
Southern Methodist University — Assistant or Associate Professor of Theatre Studies
Deadline: A secondary listing gives October 30, 2026 for full consideration, open until filled. SMU's page doesn't print a date.
Website: https://apply.interfolio.com/191543 · Employer list: https://www.smu.edu/Meadows/About/Employment
Salary not confirmed · Dallas, TX
SMU Meadows lists this as posting #50232, Theatre Studies. Some circulating versions add "and/or Playwriting" to the title, and SMU's own list doesn't. It belongs here for a scholar-practitioner who writes, not for a playwright without a scholarly record.
A $90,000 to $110,000 range and a materials list are going around, but I could not confirm either on the Interfolio posting, which blocks automated reading. Open it in a browser before you count on any of it.
The Apollo — Artistic Director
Deadline: November 4 priority date is circulating but appears on no posting I could read.
Website: https://www.entertainmentcareers.net/confidential-via-staffing-firm/artistic-director/job/534558/ · Also: https://www.broadwayworld.com/job/artistic-director-10777
$250,000 to $285,000 · New York, NY · Search run by TOC Arts Partners
The artistic leadership job at one of the country's defining Black cultural institutions, with the salary printed up front. The search firm is running it, and it is not on the Apollo's own jobs page, so the listings above are the way in.
This is for a senior producer, curator, or artistic director with national relationships: season and artistic vision, artist relationships, and work alongside the CEO on fundraising and partnerships. Treat November 4 as real until the firm tells you otherwise.
Writers Theatre — Literary and Engagement Manager
Deadline: Not posted. Writers Theatre's older employment page says "no current openings"; its newer one, linked below, is where LMDA points.
Website: https://www.writerstheatre.org/about/work-with-us/employment · Listing: https://lmda.org/news/literary-and-engagement-manager-writers-theatre/
$50,000 salaried, full-time · Medical, dental, 403(b) with match · Glencoe and Chicago, IL · Hybrid, three office days a week
A literary job at a theatre built around writers, posted on LMDA October 15. New-play development, dramaturgy, artist relationships, and the public side of the literary office. Expect regular evenings, weekends, and some holidays.
At $50,000 in the Chicago area, it's an early- to mid-career dramaturg's job, not a writer's day job. Apply soon, because literary manager searches rarely stay open long.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
These are not open or not dated yet. Put them on your calendar.
Leah Ryan Fund, The Leah. $5,000 plus a Powerhouse reading or workshop for emerging women, trans, and nonbinary playwrights. Last cycle opened in December and filled its 400-slot cap within days. Watch for a December opening. https://communityfoundationshv.org/grants/leah-ryan-fund-the-leah/
Santa Cruz Actors' Theatre, 8 Tens @ 8. The 2028 call opens November 15 and caps at 300 scripts. $10 per play. The 2027 round is already full. https://www.santacruzactorstheatre.org/play-contest-submissions
PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. Submissions open December 1. Fees and deadlines not posted. https://pageawards.com/
Sitka Center, Blue Mountain Center, MacDowell. Sitka opens in December (deadline not posted, $25). Blue Mountain opens December 1, deadline February 1, $25, and playwrights may submit 30 pages. MacDowell opens January 19, deadline February 10, 2027. https://sitkacenter.org/apply/ · https://bluemountaincenter.org/apply/ · https://www.macdowell.org/apply/apply-for-fellowship
Wurlitzer Foundation. Rent-free casitas in Taos for 2028, playwrights under literary arts, one complete play as PDF. Deadline January 18, 2027, $30 fee. https://wurlitzerfoundation.org/apply
Playwrights Realm and Cape New Writers Fellowship. Realm reopens "in November," no date. Cape opens this fall for AAPI writers with a pilot. https://playwrightsrealm.org/submit · https://www.capeusa.org/cnwf
Centenary Stage Women Playwrights Series. Last cycle ran November 10 to 24 with a $200 honorarium. The 2026 call is not posted yet.
Hawthornden Castle Fellowships. Four weeks in Scotland, room and board covered, travel stipend for non-European writers. The 2028 call goes up in March 2027. https://www.hawthornden.org/hawthornden-castle
Women's Prize for Playwriting (UK and Ireland only). Reopens "towards the end of 2026." https://womensprizeforplaywriting.co.uk
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