GET WHAT YOU WANT
June / July 2026
32 Opportunities · Residencies · Fellowships · Grants · Prizes · Competitions · International · Emergency Resources
Deadlines span June through September 2026.
JUNE 2026 DEADLINES
1. Theatre Odyssey — Annual One-Act Play Festival
Deadline: June 1, 2026, or upon receipt of 100 entries — whichever comes first
Website: theatreodyssey.org
Theatre Odyssey's annual One-Act Play Festival in Sarasota, Florida is one of the few regional festivals in the country that runs its finalists as full staged productions rather than readings. Selected plays go up October 2–4 at the Jane B. Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, and are adjudicated by three theatre professionals in front of a live audience. This is real production with real stakes — not a reading with feedback forms.
The hard cap of 100 scripts is not decorative. This festival fills and closes before the deadline every year, so submit immediately, not on June 1st. One-act plays only; no production fees charged to playwrights. Free to enter. Winners announced following the final performance. theatreodyssey.org for guidelines and the submission form.
2. Venturous Theater Fund — Venturous Capital Grant
Deadline: June 1, 2026 (Letter of Intent) · Award: $10,000–$45,000
Website: venturoustheaterfund.org
The playwright is the primary beneficiary here, even though the theater submits the LOI. The Venturous Capital Grant funds extraordinary production expenses for ambitious new plays at small and medium-sized producing organizations — the money that allows a theater to actually mount your play at full scale rather than apologize for the budget while doing it. Grant amounts run from $10,000 to $45,000.
If you have a production relationship with a theater that has been orbiting one of your plays, now is the moment to bring this fund to their attention directly. The LOI window opens May 1 and closes June 1. The Venturous ecosystem is designed for formally ambitious, difficult-to-produce work that deserves institutional infrastructure, not just aesthetic admiration. Past Venturous Playwright Fellowship recipients include Roger Q. Mason, Andrea Assaf, and Jaymes Sanchez.
3. Fred Ebb Award — Musical Theatre Songwriting
Deadline: June 1–30, 2026 · Prize: $60,000 unrestricted
Website: fredebbfoundation.org · fredebbfound@gmail.com
One of the largest cash prizes in American musical theatre — $60,000 unrestricted — for a composer/lyricist or songwriting team who has not yet achieved significant commercial success. Submit up to four songs from musical theatre pieces (MP3, M4A, or ZIP), with typewritten lyrics and a brief note on the dramatic context of each song. Applications reviewed anonymously. Winner selected in November and awarded $60,000 plus a one-night showcase of their work in New York City.
This award has a track record of identifying writers before the industry does. The eligibility requirement — “not yet achieved significant commercial success” — is deliberately broad, making this accessible to writers at many stages. Submit to fredebbfound@gmail.com. A GWYW perennial and one of the most financially significant prizes in the field for writers in musical theatre.
4. New York Classical Theatre — New Visions Cycle 3
Deadline: ~June 6, 2026 (Cycle 3 dates not yet posted — verify at nyclassical.org/new-visions)
Website: nyclassical.org/new-visions
NYCLASSICAL’s first-ever new play development program seeks plays that engage with or reinterpret the classical tradition, subvert the canon, or bring forgotten histories to light. The program is explicitly not looking for reverent adaptations — it wants writers who use classical material as a point of departure or collision. Work from outside the Western European and American canons is especially welcomed.
Each selected play receives a two-day public staged reading with a professional director and cast, 12 hours of rehearsal, a post-show discussion with cast and audience, a $300 stipend, and up to $500 in travel reimbursement. Eligibility: US-based playwrights, English-language plays, no prior AEA production, minimum 50% of characters from historically excluded groups. Cycle 2 closed June 6, 2025 — Cycle 3 is expected to follow the same window. Confirm dates on the website before applying.
⚡ URGENT — JUNE 7, 2026 ⚡
5. PlayCo & Švanda Theatre Prague — Residency Exchange
Deadline: June 7, 2026 at 11:59pm ET — APPLY NOW
Website: playco.org/event/svanda-theatre-residency-exchange-2026
Two US-based playwrights will be placed at the Švanda Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic, from October 24 – November 8, 2026. This is fully funded: round-trip flight, housing, and per diem are all covered. The residency includes public readings of the selected playwrights’ work in Czech translation, a public forum, and two weeks of deep immersion in Prague’s theater scene — one of the most vibrant new-writing cultures in Europe.
The exchange is built around genuine artistic dialogue rather than tourism. Švanda is a major venue with a serious international repertoire, and this is a real working relationship rather than a showcase visit. Openness to cross-cultural collaboration and formally adventurous work is a genuine plus in the selection process. Eligibility: US-based playwright with at least one professionally produced play. Apply at the link above. The deadline is firm.
6. Jewish Plays Project — Annual Review Cycle
Deadline: June 14, 2026 (effective current-cycle deadline; rolling year-round)
Website: jewishplaysproject.org/submit
The Jewish Plays Project is a national new-play development organization that seeks plays at the intersection of Jewish identity and the full range of contemporary global concerns — social justice, economic inequality, LGBTQ+ inclusion, environmental crisis, Israel and Palestine, interfaith relations, and diaspora experience. The emphasis is firmly on the present tense: JPP is not interested in Holocaust memorialization as a substitute for dramatic tension, and it actively looks for work that treats Jewish identity as a living, contested thing rather than a fixed historical marker.
JPP’s development tools are substantive: dramaturgical consultation, director and actor collaborations, private developmental readings, public presentations, and industry advocacy. The program is open to artists of all backgrounds and faiths — you do not have to be Jewish to submit. Submission is free and reviewed blind. For playwrights whose work already engages with any of these themes, this is one of the cleanest development pipelines in the country.
7. Don McCann Playwriting Contest — Oswego Players
Deadline: June 15, 2026 · Prizes: 1st $250 / 2nd $150 / 3rd $75
Website: oswegoplayers.org/productions/don-mccann-playwriting-contest · osweplay@yahoo.com
Free contest for New York State playwrights — residents or college students currently enrolled in a New York institution. Original one-act plays only. The Oswego Players produce the winning plays, making this one of the few low-fee or free competitions with a genuine production commitment rather than a reading. Three cash prizes: $250 (first), $150 (second), $75 (third).
Eligibility: 18 years of age or older, and a New York State resident or college student at time of submission. Submit electronically to osweplay@yahoo.com or by US mail. For writers with a tight, produced-ready one-act looking for recognition and a New York production credit, this is a clean, low-barrier entry.
8. NYFA — The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award
Deadline: June 17, 2026 · Award: $8,000 unrestricted cash grant
Website: nyfa.org/awards-grants/the-ryan-hudak-lgbtq-dramatic-writing-award
One of the largest unrestricted cash grants available specifically to LGBTQ+ playwrights and screenwriters in the country. The $8,000 award is not project-specific: if awarded, funds can be used however the writer needs, with no reporting requirements attached to a particular work. The award was established by the parents of Ryan Hudak, a gay playwright, theater maker, filmmaker, and NYFA staff member who passed away in May 2022 at age 32. It is an act of love made into institutional infrastructure, reviewed by peer panels each cycle.
Accepted forms include stageplays, screenplays, teleplays, libretti, radio plays, and audio dramas. Applicants submit completed works and are evaluated on artistic merit, originality, depth of themes, innovation in storytelling, and the potential impact of receiving the award. Apply via Submittable at apply.nyfa.org. Eligibility: LGBTQ+-identifying playwright or screenwriter; full-time New York State resident for a minimum of 12 months at the time of application closing; at least 25 years of age; not currently enrolled in a degree-seeking program. Previous NYFA grant recipients are eligible; previous Ryan Hudak Award recipients are not.
9. Pioneer Drama Service — A+ Playwriting Contest for Teachers
Deadline: June 30, 2026 · Prize: $500 royalty advance + $500 donation to school theater program
Website: pioneerdrama.com/Playwrights/Teachers_Contest.asp
Annual prize for K–12 educators whose plays have been produced at their own schools within the past two years. One of very few playwriting contests specifically designed for educator-playwrights rather than treating them as a subset of the general pool. The winner receives a $500 royalty advance against future earnings and a $500 donation to their school theater program. All finalists are simultaneously considered for the Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest — effectively a second bite at recognition.
Eligibility: Current or retired faculty at an accredited K–12 public or private school in the United States or Canada. The play must have been produced at the playwright’s own institution. This is a low-competition lane with genuine financial upside for teachers who write. Submit directly through the Pioneer Drama website.
10. Playhouse on the Square — New Works Playwriting Competition
Deadline: June 30, 2026 · Entry Fee: $15 ($10 for DG members and prior-year submitters) · Prizes: $100/finalist · $1,500/winner
Website: playhouseonthesquare.org/20262027-new-works-playwriting-competition · savannah@playhouseonthesquare.org
Playhouse on the Square in Memphis has launched an exciting new partnership with Northern Michigan University’s Forest Roberts Theatre, uniting two established playwriting competitions into one national opportunity. Six finalists are chosen for staged readings in Memphis, each receiving $100. From those, two winners are selected for full productions — one at Playhouse on the Square’s TheatreWorks@TheSquare stage and one at NMU in Michigan — each receiving $1,500. Full-length plays only; no musicals. Unpublished and unproduced. Written in English. Cast limited to 10.
Script must be submitted no earlier than January 1, 2026 and postmarked no later than June 30. The Dramatists Guild member discount drops the fee to $10; prior-year submitters receive the same discount. Submit via the online form at the link above or by mail to Playhouse on the Square, New Works Competition, 66 S Cooper St, Memphis, TN 38104. Musical scores and demos may be included but note the no-musicals guideline. Contact: savannah@playhouseonthesquare.org.
11. LSU SciArts — New Play Festival
Deadline: June 30, 2026 · Cash prize + travel provided · No fee
Website: lsu.edu/cmda/theatre/events/sciarts
Louisiana State University’s SciArts New Play Festival seeks original, unpublished full-length plays that prominently feature accurate science as a thematic element — not as backdrop, but as integral to the drama. Co-sponsored by LSU’s College of Science, School of Theatre, and Office of Research and Economic Development. Selected playwrights are flown to Baton Rouge for workshop rehearsals with both theatre and science faculty, receive a cash prize, and have their work presented on the LSU campus in Fall 2026.
The specific lane here — accurate science as essential drama — is narrow enough that competition is genuinely reduced compared to general new-play competitions. For playwrights working in climate, medicine, technology, biology, astrophysics, ecology, or any scientific field as dramatic subject matter, this is one of the few programs in the country specifically built for that work rather than accommodating it reluctantly. Notification by September 1. No submission fee.
12. A Classic Theatre — New Play Staged Reading Series
Deadline: June 30, 2026 · Stipend: $100 · No fee · Multiple submissions accepted
Website: aclassictheatre.org/newplays · act@aclassictheatre.org
A Classic Theatre in St. Augustine, Florida accepts full-length new plays for its 2026–27 Staged Reading Series — one performance per play with structured audience feedback. Low ceiling, genuinely low barrier. This is a clean test for a tight, small-cast play that hasn’t had a professional production and needs a real audience response.
Script requirements: no longer than 90–105 minutes, no more than six characters, no children or teens as characters. Selected playwrights receive a $100 stipend, a standard production with professional direction, and audience feedback that can inform future drafts. No submission fee. Multiple submissions accepted. Notification by September 30, 2026. Submit by email to act@aclassictheatre.org or US mail to A Classic Theatre, 600 Nautical Way, St. Augustine, FL 32080.
JULY 2026 DEADLINES
13. Yaddo — Artist Residency, Summer Application Cycle
Deadline: July 1, 2026 at 11:59pm ET · Portal opens June 1 · App fee: $35 (waivers available)
Website: yaddo.org/apply
If you write plays, this is the one. Yaddo is one of two or three residencies in the country where the prestige of the program is not incidental to its usefulness. Playwrights apply under the Literature panel — the specific category is “drama, librettos, and graphic novels.” The terms: private studio, private room, three prepared meals a day, and two weeks to two months at the historic Saratoga Springs estate. No residency fees. Travel reimbursement and need-based stipends are available to open the residency to the broadest possible community.
The Summer Application Cycle portal opens June 1 and closes July 1 at 11:59 PM Eastern — that deadline is firm. Important calendar note: Yaddo recently updated their application calendar and the old August 1 deadline no longer exists. July 1 is now the summer deadline. Applications are reviewed by independent professional panels composed of working artists, and selection is based solely on the quality of the work. Note: artists may apply once every other calendar year — if you last applied for August 2024, you are eligible for July 2026. Submit through SlideRoom; the $35 fee (which includes SlideRoom portal fees) can be waived upon request.
14. Savage Wonder — Full-Length & 10-Minute Playwriting Competitions
Deadline: July 3, 2026 · Prizes: $5,000 (full-length) / $1,000 (10-minute) · No fee
Website: savagewonder.org/submit-your-work
Savage Wonder accepts submissions for both full-length and 10-minute playwriting competitions through July 3, 2026. The prizes are meaningful: $5,000 for the full-length winner, $1,000 for the 10-minute winner, with no submission fee. The eligibility filter keeps the competition lean: playwrights must be current or former US military, law enforcement, fire service, EMS, foreign service, intelligence service, DoD employee, or DoD contractor.
The program specifically values veteran writers and active-duty storytellers who bring those lived experiences to dramatic form. If you work in this field or have writers in your network who qualify, this is worth passing along directly. Far fewer competing submissions than in open national competitions at this prize level.
15. Jewish Writers Institute — Screenwriters Lab
Deadline: July 15, 2026 (reviewed on a rolling basis) · Stipend: $10,000 · Three in-person seminars (travel + accommodations covered)
Website: jewishwritersinstitute.org/screenwriters
A year-long creative fellowship for screenwriters developing feature or television scripts that explore Jewish themes, culture, and identity — not from a heritage-museum angle but aimed squarely at the mainstream marketplace. The program is built around the premise that authentic Jewish storytelling is both an artistic act and a cultural one, and it actively recruits writers who want to bring that dimension of their identity into commercial work rather than leaving it at the door.
Fellows receive a $10,000 stipend, one-on-one mentorship from working producers and writers, monthly virtual sessions for script critique and professional development, and three in-person seminars in Los Angeles, New York, and Israel — all travel and accommodations covered by the program. Past guest speakers include Marc Platt, Rachel Bloom, Lake Bell, Meg LeFauve, Jon Turtletaub, Carol Leifer, Alex Edelman, and Mayim Bialik. The program has also assembled a group of affiliated media financiers who actively track projects in development and attend the final pitch presentations — this is a fellowship with a real pipeline, not just a development credential. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis, so earlier submission is stronger. Apply at jewishwritersinstitute.org/screenwriters.
16. PEN America — U.S. Writers Aid Initiative
Deadline: July 15, 2026 (and October 1, 2026) · Award: up to $2,000
Website: pen.org/writers-aid
PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative provides up to $2,000 in financial assistance to fiction and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and journalists facing short-term financial emergencies. Two application windows per year: July 15 and October 1. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis within each window.
Must be a professional writer based in the United States. This is one of several emergency grant mechanisms worth having bookmarked alongside the DGF Bridge and Crisis Relief Grants, the Authors League Fund, and the Entertainment Community Fund. The July 15 deadline means applications should be prepared well in advance.
17. Loghaven Artist Residency
Deadline: July 15, 2026 · Application window: June 1–July 15 · Stipend: $850/week · App fee: $25 (waivers available)
Website: loghaven.org/residencies/apply
Located on 90 acres of woodland in Knoxville, Tennessee, in five rehabilitated historic log cabins with purpose-built studio spaces. One of the most financially generous residencies in the country: all Fellows receive $850 per week in living stipend plus a travel subsidy on a sliding scale from $400 to $800 and up to $200 in materials reimbursement. Room and board are fully covered. Theater is an explicitly eligible discipline alongside visual arts, writing, dance, music composition, architecture, and interdisciplinary work.
Theater work samples: two or three videos or PDFs totaling no more than 15 minutes or 20 pages. Applications via Loghaven’s SlideRoom portal only. Must be at least 21 years old, live more than 120 miles from Knoxville, and be able to work legally in the United States. Collaborative teams of up to nine are welcome to apply together. The application window is strictly June 1 through midnight ET on July 15 — fee waiver requests must be emailed to info@loghaven.org before noon on July 15. Highly competitive national selection committee.
18. UCross Foundation — Fellowship for Native American Artists
Deadline: July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm MT · Award: $2,000 + $1,500 stipend · No fee
Website: ucrossfoundation.org/native-american-fellowships
A dedicated fellowship for Native American visual artists, writers, and performers (the performer track was added in 2024 with NEA support) at any stage of their careers. Selected fellows receive a four-week residency on UCross’s historic 20,000-acre ranch in Wyoming: private studio space, chef-prepared meals Monday through Friday, full living accommodations, a $1,500 stipend to offset travel and personal costs, and a $2,000 award. Fellows also present their work publicly during the residency — a reading, performance, or exhibition.
Playwright Kia Corthron has described the experience: “I felt like there were forty hours in the day.” Work samples for writers: one complete play with a note indicating which 20 pages reviewers should read. Eligibility: enrolled member of a state- or federally-recognized Tribe, Pueblo, Nation, Native Community, or Alaskan Native Village. No application fee. All applicants are also automatically considered for a standard UCross general residency. Submit via UCross’s Submittable portal.
19. Stone Canoe — Drama Submissions
Deadline: July 29, 2026
Website: stonecanoe.submittable.com/submit
Stone Canoe is an annual literary journal published by Syracuse University that has accepted short plays and dramatic excerpts as first-class literary submissions alongside poetry, fiction, and visual art since 2007. It is one of the more serious literary journals in the Northeastern US and has consistently treated dramatic literature as a genuine genre rather than a novelty inclusion.
For playwrights with a tight one-act, a standalone excerpt from a longer work, or formally experimental short dramatic writing — work that holds on the page as well as in the room — Stone Canoe offers publication in a reputable venue with regional and national readership. Publication credit in a serious literary journal carries real weight in grant applications and residency applications that ask for prior publication history. Submit via Submittable.
AUGUST 2026 DEADLINES
20. Playwrights Foundation — Resident Playwright Program
Deadline: ~August 11–26, 2026 (verify at playwrightsfoundation.org — based on prior-year pattern)
Website: playwrightsfoundation.org/rpp-apply
The Playwrights Foundation’s Resident Playwright Program is a two-year cohort residency based in San Francisco’s Bay Area. Four Bay Area writers are selected per cycle and gain access to dramaturgical support, public presentations through the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and sustained institutional relationships with PF staff and the broader Bay Area theater ecosystem. The 2026–27 cohort is currently in residence; the 2027–28 application is expected to open in August 2026 following the same pattern as prior years.
Applications are reviewed holistically and not blind — PF reads the playwright’s full-length play, a script sample, optional additional work sample, resume, and narrative responses with names attached. All applicants receive notification in December 2026. Fee waivers available for economic hardship. Eligibility is Bay Area-based playwrights who have had at least one full professional production. Confirm the exact application window at the website when it opens.
21. Fondation Jan Michalski — Writer’s Residency (Switzerland)
Deadline: August 31, 2026 · Applications open June 2, 2026 · No fee
Website: fondation-janmichalski.com/en/residences
The Jan Michalski Foundation offers 2-week to 3-month writing residencies in private cabins at the foot of the Swiss Jura Mountains in Montricher, approximately one hour from Geneva. Fully funded: all travel costs covered, CHF 400 per week stipend for local transport and groceries, and breakfast and communal lunch provided daily. Seven independent cabins, each with a kitchenette, desk, and full bathroom. Access to a substantial research library. Around 40 authors from around the world are hosted each year.
A note on fit for playwrights: the Foundation’s stated priority is literary writers and translators, and the language on their site reads “open to other disciplines as long as literature is at the heart of the project.” A playwright can absolutely apply — but the application should frame the work through its literary dimension: the text, the language, the architecture of the writing. A playwright developing a script that has a strong textual or research component, or whose work sits at the intersection of dramatic and literary writing, is a stronger candidate than one whose application is centered on production. Applications open June 2 at fondation-janmichalski.com/en/residences. Notification: December 2026. Residencies begin January 2027.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2026 DEADLINES
22. Stanley Drama Award — Wagner College
Deadline: September 1, 2026 · Prize: $2,000 · Reading fee: $32
Website: wagner.edu/performing-arts/stanley-drama · stanleydramaaward@wagner.edu
The Stanley Drama Award at Wagner College is an annual $2,000 prize for an original full-length play, musical, or one-act series that has not been professionally produced or received trade book publication. Established in 1957, it has one of the longer track records of any American playwriting prize — past winners include Terrence McNally’s “This Side of the Door,” Lonne Elder III’s “Ceremonies in Dark Old Men,” and Jonathan Larson’s “Rent.” That lineage is not decorative: this competition has consistently identified writers before the industry did.
The required reading fee is $32, paid online at the Wagner College portal, followed by an email to stanleydramaaward@wagner.edu with a PDF of your completed application, your manuscript, and a payment confirmation. Musicals should include digital links to the music. One submission per playwright; plays entered in previous years are not eligible for resubmission; former Stanley Award winners are not eligible. Winner and finalists announced in Spring 2027. The September 1 deadline gives the full summer to get a script ready.
23. Theatre Three — 28th Annual Festival of One-Act Plays
Deadline: September 1, 2026 · Stipend: $150 · No fee
Website: theatrethree.com · Jeffrey@theatrethree.com
Since its inception in 1998, Theatre Three’s Annual Festival of One-Act Plays in Port Jefferson, New York has received over 13,000 submissions and produced more than 140 world premieres by over 100 different playwrights. The Festival presents five to eight plays each season. Selected plays receive ten full performances in winter-spring 2027 at the Ronald F. Peierls Theatre on Theatre Three’s Second Stage — real productions, not readings.
Selected playwrights receive a $150 stipend, a standard Dramatists Guild-approved contract, four complimentary tickets to use at any performance, and copies of all playbills, press, and production photos. Theatre Three covers all production costs and retains no future production rights. Guidelines: one unproduced play per playwright per Festival; no adaptations, children’s plays, or musicals; cast maximum 12; length maximum 30 minutes; simple or suggested settings. Submit as a single PDF titled in all caps followed by your name (example: THE PLAY TITLE Jane Playwright). Cover sheet must include name, address, phone, email. Short synopsis encouraged. Email to Jeffrey@theatrethree.com. Playwrights of selected plays notified by early December 2026.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR — OPENING SOON
24. Princeton Arts Fellowship — 2027–2028 Cycle
Deadline: Opens July 2026 · Deadline approximately September 10, 2026 · Award: $93,000/year × 2 years
Website: arts.princeton.edu/fellowships/princeton-arts-fellowship
$93,000 per year for two consecutive academic years at Princeton University — one of the most financially significant fellowships in the country for early-career artists. Playwrights, directors, novelists, filmmakers, composers, designers, choreographers, and performance artists are all explicitly eligible. The normal assignment is one undergraduate course per semester, or an artistic project developed with students in lieu of a course. Light teaching obligation; substantial protected time for your own work.
The Princeton website currently reads: “The next application cycle will open in July 2026.” Non-US citizens are welcome to apply. Cannot be used to fund degree work. Applicants may apply for this fellowship twice in a lifetime. Start assembling your work samples and project description now — this is one to prepare for rather than scramble toward. arts.princeton.edu/fellowships/princeton-arts-fellowship.
25. Eugene O’Neill Theater Center — National Playwrights Conference 2027
Deadline: September 18, 2026 · App fee: $15 · Open submission, no agent required
Website: theoneill.org/npc · LitOffice@theoneill.org
The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference is the most prestigious new play development conference in the country — a summer residency in Waterford, Connecticut where selected plays receive intense dramaturgical support, professional casts, and a structured development process with some of the best play doctors in American theater. The open, blind submission process has been in place since the Conference’s founding: no agent required, no nomination needed, right to work in the United States is the only barrier. All scripts are reviewed without writer names or contact information.
The 2026 NPC submission window opened September 2, 2025 and closed September 18, 2025 — this is the established annual pattern. Based on that, the 2027 NPC window will open in early September 2026 and close approximately September 18, 2026. Confirm the exact window at theoneill.org/npc when it opens. Start preparing your developmental goals statement now — the application asks what you hope to accomplish at the Conference specifically, and the strongest applications are specific. The $15 fee is the lowest-cost submission for the highest-return development opportunity in the field.
26. MacDowell Fellowship — Spring/Summer 2027 Cycle
Deadline: Portal opens August 15, 2026 · Deadline September 10, 2026 · App fee: $30 (waivers available)
Website: macdowell.org/apply
Theater is one of MacDowell’s seven recognized disciplines. No residency fees, with travel reimbursement and need-based stipends available. Residencies run 10 days to six weeks at the 450-acre campus in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Acceptance rates run approximately 9% in recent cycles. A MacDowell residency on a playwright’s CV carries institutional weight in grant applications, commission conversations, and production relationships that extends well beyond the time spent on campus.
MacDowell’s current Fall/Winter 2026 cycle has closed. The Spring/Summer 2027 application opens August 15, 2026. Alumni include Suzan-Lori Parks, Ayad Akhtar, Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Baldwin, Charlie Kaufman, and hundreds of others across all disciplines. Start preparing your project proposal and work samples now — the strongest applications to MacDowell are specific about the work rather than the general desire for time and space.
27. IASH/Traverse Theatre — Creative Fellowship (Edinburgh)
Deadline: Late September 2026 · Award: £12,000 · 10-month residency · INTERNATIONAL
Website: iash.ed.ac.uk/iashtraverse-creative-fellowship
One of the most distinctive international fellowships for playwrights: a 10-month placement split between the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh and the Traverse Theatre, one of Europe’s premier new-writing theaters. The selected playwright receives £12,000, full access to IASH’s academic community and research resources, dramaturgical support from the Traverse’s artistic team, and dedicated time to develop a new performance text. The 2027 round opens late summer 2026.
This fellowship is designed for writers who want to interrogate urgent social, political, or cultural themes through theater — and who would benefit from the particular combination of rigorous academic exchange and direct relationship with a working producing theater. A free information webinar for applicants was held in September 2025; expect a similar session in 2026. Confirm opening date and requirements at iash.ed.ac.uk/iashtraverse-creative-fellowship.
28. DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program — Literature Fellowship
Deadline: Opens October 2026 · Deadline ~December 15, 2026 · 12-month Berlin residency · INTERNATIONAL
Website: berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de
One of the world’s most respected artist residency programs: approximately 20 scholarships per year for international artists in visual arts, film, literature, and music. Playwrights apply in the literature category. Fellows receive a monthly stipend covering living expenses and rent, a furnished apartment, round-trip travel (including for partners and children who accompany for the full fellowship), and optional health insurance and German language courses. Duration: 12 months in Berlin.
The program is designed for established artists who have already developed their own voice and standing — it is not for emerging writers. DAAD is explicitly interested in artists whose work critically engages with historical and contemporary discourses, not pure aesthetics. The 2027 cycle application closed December 15, 2025; the 2028 cycle will open around October 2026. Flag this now. berliner-kuenstlerprogramm.de.
29. Playwrights Realm — Writing Fellowship & Scratchpad Series
Deadline: Watch for fall 2026 opening · Fellowship: $20,000
Website: playwrightsrealm.org
The Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship is one of the strongest playwright development investments in New York: $20,000 to support a playwright developing a specific new play, with full institutional support from the Realm’s dramaturgical staff. The Scratchpad Series provides earlier-career support at a lower stakes entry point. Both programs are confirmed open and operating for 2026.
The Realm has a track record of selecting writers whose work then moves into production — this is development with real forward momentum rather than a holding pattern. Application deadline for the next cycle typically falls in late summer or early fall. Watch playwrightsrealm.org for the announcement.
ROLLING — OPEN YEAR-ROUND
30. Woodward/Newman Award — Constellation Stage & Screen
Deadline: Rolling · Submit by August 31, 2026 for 2027–28 season consideration · Prize: $3,000 + full production · No fee
Website: seeconstellation.org/get-involved/submit-play
One of the only major US playwriting competitions with no entry fee and an ongoing, non-contest submission process. The Woodward/Newman Award — started with the support of Joanne Woodward, Newman’s Own Foundation, and the Newman family — presents the best unpublished play of the year with a $3,000 cash prize and a full Mainstage production. The prize amount is in lieu of royalties for the production. Housing and transportation also provided.
Submissions accepted year-round and reviewed by the literary team on an ongoing basis. Plays submitted by August 31, 2026 are considered for the 2027–28 season. Maximum two submissions per year. Any unpublished play submitted to Constellation — including through agent submission or direct contact — is eligible for the award and for all production slots in the season. The Constellation team keeps plays on file for two years. Contact: literary@seeconstellation.org.
31. Native Voices — Production Submissions
Deadline: Rolling year-round
Website: theautry.org/explore/theatre-native-voices/call-scripts
Native Voices at the Autry is the only Equity theater company in the country exclusively devoted to developing and producing new works by Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations playwrights. Multiple tracks: the Annual Playwrights Retreat and Festival (full-length plays), the Short Play Festival (10–30 minutes), and the First Look Series (workshops with directors and dramaturgs). Selected playwrights receive an honorarium, round-trip airfare, and lodging.
Submissions are accepted year-round. For the Annual Festival, full-length plays should be primarily focused on Native experience and written by Native writers. The Short Play Festival has annual themes announced on the website. If you have Native playwrights in your network who haven’t submitted here, put this in front of them.
EMERGENCY & FINANCIAL RESOURCES — ALWAYS OPEN
DGF Emergency Grants — Dramatists Guild Foundation
Website: dgf.org/programs/dgf-grants
Bridge Grants ($500, need-based, for non-emergency essential expenses: utilities, groceries, childcare, medications). Crisis Relief Grants for severe hardship or unexpected illness. Rolling applications through December 14, 2026. Must be a theater writer 18+, living and working in the US or US Territories, with less than $15,000 in combined bank accounts.
Authors League Fund
Website: authorsleaguefund.org
Interest-free loans for professional authors — including playwrights — facing financial hardship. No application period; always open. Loans are repaid when and as the writer is able. One of the few genuine safety nets in the writing profession.
Entertainment Community Fund
Website: entertainmentcommunity.org
Emergency assistance — financial, medical, housing, and counseling — for entertainment professionals including theater artists. Confidential. Always open.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts — Emergency Grants
Website: foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/grants/emergency-grants
$200–$2,500 grants for performing and visual artists facing urgent, unanticipated opportunities or unexpected project expenses. Monthly review cycle, approximately 12–21 grants per month. Multi-disciplinary; playwrights and theater makers eligible.
PEN America — Writers Emergency Fund
Website: pen.org/writers-emergency-fund
Up to $2,000 for professional writers facing acute financial crisis. This is a separate, rolling fund distinct from the Writers Aid Initiative (which has deadline windows). Always open for genuine emergencies.
GET WHAT YOU WANT · Compiled by Aurin Squire · sixperfections.blogspot.com · June 2026
Always verify deadlines at primary source before submitting. Forward freely to any playwright who needs it.
