Opportunities for playwrights

Page To Stage London are open for submissions of 10 minute theatre scripts to be performed at their January scratch night.

Submissions are now open for The Bill Cashmore Award: One Act Play Prize. Writers must be aged 18-30, and the script must be no more than 20 pages and suitable for a cast of 5 actors ages 18-25. The prize offers a paid opportunity for two new one-act plays to be professionally produced at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.

If you have a show or work-in-progress that you think could be performed or shared at NSDF 25, submissions are now open. The next festival will take place at the Curve Theatre Leicester from 22nd-26th April 2025 and will be a week dedicated to the future of theatre and theatre making.

The Bruntwood Prize 2025 is open for submissions until 6pm on Thursday 9th January 2025.

Engine Room is Omnibus Theatre’s flagship year-long artist support programme, giving theatre makers and artists the opportunity to challenge their work and develop their craft. Once a month, 3 companies come together to each share a 20 minute extract of work in development in front of a public audience; their rehearsal, performance and feedback then helps the company on next stage of their creative process.

Flat 4 Theatre will be hosting another Freshly Squeezed Scratch Night at The Golden Goose on Thursday 13th of February 2025. They are looking for scenes / extracts up to 15 minutes in length and monologues up to 5 minutes in length.

The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2025 will open for submissions on 13th January 2025 and close on 22nd April 2025.

The Oxford/42 New Writing Prize is open to anyone aged 18 or over living, working or studying in the UK at the closing date for submissions. The winner will receive £1500 along with professional representation by 42.

We Are Here To Write is a writing group for Global Majority South West based artists. Meeting fortnightly online, the group is a space for coming together, writing and developing as writers and artists. It has become a community for its members, a space where everyone’s talents and strengths are celebrated.

The Finborough Theatre welcomes unsolicited scripts at any time of the year.

A writing group for anyone aged 18+ who identifies as Black British, Black African or Caribbean. Through monthly workshops the Black Writers Collective develop their own skills as writers through workshops, sharing of their own work with each other and public audiences, as well as hearing from invited industry guests.

The Freelance Royalty Scheme is Theatre Royal Stratford East’s membership designed to support arts freelancers aged 18+ living or working in East London.

The Genesis Network is open to all early-career creatives aged 18+ based in the UK. The Young Vic Creators Program aims to support and connect multi- and anti-disciplinary artists and processes and explore future practice.

Beyond Face are offering one to one sessions with a member of their team with the aim of unlocking practical, actionable ways to move your theatre project forward. The sessions are for global majority creatives.

The Sunday Fix is a scratch night in two parts: first a Q&A with an established theatre maker followed by 3-4, 10-minute excerpts from new plays. Writers may submit up to 10-minutes of a work in progress.

Box of Tricks has a year-round, open door policy to receiving new plays and forging creative relationships with Northern playwrights. They work closely with playwrights to support their development through the PlayMakers Network and various playwriting programmes and commission new plays through their New Tricks programme. They do not produce unsolicited submissions from writers so please bear this in mind when sending your work.

Eastern Angles runs a monthly New Angles Writers Club for East Anglian playwrights at any stage of their careers. It offers the chance to join a local writing community and receive support and feedback on a play in development.

Stage Write is a writing initiative run by Liverpool’s Royal Court to support and develop new writing for the stage. Regular showcase nights are held in their Studio space, at which a selection of excerpts are rehearsed and performed by a cast of professional actors.

The Liverpool Playhouse is inviting writers from the Liverpool region to apply to their free Playwrights’ Programme. The Programme consists of a series of fortnightly workshops and opportunities to share work in table reads within the group and Scratch Studio.

Rebound Productions are looking for one act plays for three characters that are 10-15 minutes in length, to be performed on a London stage.

The Painkiller Prize is a new commissioning prize for audacious playwrights who place humour at the heart of their work. Bitter Pill are seeking pitch submissions from UK-based playwrights, alongside a CV and writing sample. The plays pitched should have a maximum cast size of 4. The winner will receive a commission of £7,500.

Anna Jordan will be hosting a Q&A with Helen Black, the writer of Series 2 of TIME on BBC One.

Life in a Northern Town is a new free playwriting programme for young people aged 14-29 across the North. You will work with a partner theatre and have access to workshops, a writing residency, peer to peer learning, mentoring and masterclasses. The ambition is to create a bold new programme of touring work that represents the hopes, frustrations and imaginations of a diverse group of new writers growing up in the region.

Menagerie is a new writing theatre company based at Cambridge Junction. The Young Writers’ Workshop is their flagship development programme for writers aged 18-30, living in the East and South East of England. You will learn from experienced writers, receive feedback on your work, connect with peers and broaden your professional network. It is a space to risk, to extend horizons and discover new influences. There will also be opportunities to have work performed at the Hotbed Festival in July 2024 at Cambridge Junction.

Wise Ram Theatre are looking for 5-10 minute scripts and extracts exploring the climate crisis to be performed at their scratch night at The Glitch in Waterloo.

Accelerate is a development programme for Northern playwrights aged 35+ designed to help playwrights develop a brand-new play and make a step up in both their craft and professional writing careers.

Graeae invites Deaf, disabled or neurodiverse writers to submit a 10-20 minute play responding to the prompt ‘a fork in the road’ for their next Crips with Chips showcase at Liverpool Everyman.

Haywire Theatre are looking for monologue scripts between 5 and 15 minutes in length for The Pocketfull Project, a series of digital theatrical performances that take advantage of the online medium.

Haddaway & Write will support up to 6 North East based writers to develop short plays, with dramaturgical support from award-winning writer, Sarah Tarbit. The selected writers will take part in bespoke script development sessions, receive career support and have their plays professionally performed at Gala, with potential for scripts to be selected for future touring. Selected writers will receive £500 to take part.

The Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy is now accepting submissions of original, full-length, unperformed and unproduced new comedy plays. The winning writer will receive a commission fee of £10,000 funded by the Victoria Wood Foundation, and an award of £15,000 prize money.

Pentabus is accepting applications from playwrights aged 16-30 for their National and Local Young Writers programmes. You’ll work with experienced writers and directors to develop a short script to be produced by a professional team.

Tamasha are offering one to one in-person sessions with their Artistic Director, Pooja Ghai. The 30 minute sessions will take place on Thursday 7 December. They are a chance to share ideas, learn more about Tamasha, get artistic / career advice, or to have a chat with some of the team.

Wooden Arrow are seeking submissions of new writing and performance pieces of up to 10 minutes in length, from fully formed scripts to ideas at their earliest stages. The Scratch will feature exciting new work, an industry panel and a networking event for artists & audiences taking place after performances.

The Annual Playwrights Christmas Party is a chance for playwrights and screenwriters of any level of experience to come together in a relaxed, non-networking environment. This year, it will be on Sunday 10th December at the Bush Theatre, 6pm - midnight.

Short Attention Span Theatre is looking for 10 minute plays for their February shows at the Ayr Gaiety. The theme is Day Trippers and pieces should require no more than 3 actors. Ideally, writers should be able to attend rehearsals in Glasgow.

Engine Room is Omnibus Theatre’s flagship artist support programme, giving theatre makers and artists the opportunity to experiment, play and develop ideas. It offers a 20-minute performance slot or 30 minute reading of your piece for an invited audience, up to three days free rehearsal space at Omnibus Theatre, a dramaturgical session, technical assistance, and meaningful audience feedback.

The Women in Theatre Lab is open to emerging and mid-career female playwrights based in the UK. It aims to help address the under-representation of women in UK theatre by creating an ongoing paid pipeline of support from ideas to first drafts to full commissions and productions.

The Scottish Society of Playwrights will offer ten Fellowships Awards to innovative, inspiring, boundary-stretching projects that honour, celebrate and promote playwriting in Scotland. The Awards are open to established and emerging playwrights and theatre makers working in Scottish theatre.

CRIPtic Arts are running 4 artist development programmes in 2024 for disabled creatives: emerging writers, fresh performers, experienced creatives, and company innovators.

Just Some Theatre are looking for script submissions of full length plays suitable for rural touring in the UK. The script must be written by a UK resident, able to be performed by a cast size of 2 to 4, appropriate for a wide audience, with minimal swearing, violence, nudity and sexual themes, and must not have been previously performed professionally in its entirety.

Quantum Egg are looking for scripts centred around their sci-fi inspired theme for their ALGORITHM anthology night in March 2024. Scripts should be no more than 30 minutes and should require no more than 3 actors (actors can multi-role). Selected scripts will undergo a period of development with their dramaturgical team, and writers will be paid profit-share.

The Bread & Roses Theatre is offering an artist, of any (or many!) theatre-making disciplines a one year attachment to the theatre. They are seeking an Emerging Artist in the very early stages of their career who is interested in further developing their skills, gaining insights into making productions and running a theatre, as well as making new connections and working in a diverse and forward-thinking environment.

The Script Room is a London showcase for new theatre writing from director Barry Edwards and Optik Theatre, supported by Richmond Upon Thames Libraries. Submissions are open for their 10th showcase, which will take place in March 2024. They are looking for scripts with a maximum cast of 4 and a running time of up to an hour. A fee of £50 will be paid to each writer.

The David MacLennan Award is about uncovering new writing talent in Scotland and giving an opportunity to someone who has never written a professionally produced play before. The winner will have their work developed and presented as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint (PPP)’s Autumn 2024 season at Oran Mor, Glasgow.

Middle Child is looking to commission writers with a demonstrable connection to Hull. There are a range of different-sized commissions available, from 15-minute explorations of very early ideas all the way up to a complete 70-minute play.

The Bread & Roses Theatre are looking for monologues or spoken word pieces of no more than 10 minutes in length by women (cis & trans), non-binary or gender fluid performers or writers for their Raise the Vibration V-Day event. Submissions can form any part of your experience around sexual, physical, racial, economic, political, socio-cultural, ideological and climate crisis violence.

The Lancaster Playwriting Prize is looking for short script submissions from young writers living or learning in Lancashire. Winners will be selected from two age brackets, 12-15 & 16-18 years old.

Trinity College Cambridge invites applications for this award to support a playwright at the beginning of their career. Applicants must be graduates of a university in the United Kingdom who have completed their undergraduate degree no more than five years prior to taking up the award. The recipient will take up post for twelve months as ‘The Peter Shaffer Playwright in Residence’ at Trinity College in October 2024.

Through the Listen Local Young Writers project, Kiln Theatre works with 10 first-time writers aged 18-30 who live, learn, or earn in Brent. They are paid at London Living Wage to take part in all workshops as they develop their first short play for performance in a rehearsed reading on the Kiln stage. Taster workshops for the 2024 Listen Local Young Writers programme will be taking place in January 2024. You can register your interest now.

The RAFTA (Rise Against Fanaticism Through the Arts) scriptwriting competition is looking for for creative and unique 25-35 page scripts against extremism, intolerance and xenophobia. The winning script will receive £500 with the commitment to produce it for the stage. 5 runners-up will be selected for rehearsed script readings.

two thousand and one productions are looking to produce original writing from under-represented artists aged 17-25 and based in London. Scripts must have a maximum of 1-4 ensemble members and a running time of up to a hour.

Seventh Sense Theatre Company is looking for 10-15 minute snippets of plays from working class artists to be performed at Golden Goose Theatre on 23 & 24 February 2024.

The Bush Theatre is open for submissions of full length, unproduced plays from writers based in the UK and Ireland that don’t have an agent.

The Old Electric is open to applications for a three-month writing residency dedicated to new writing in Blackpool. This opportunity is aimed at writers in the North who have at least two year’s writing experience under their belt (in any genre, including prose verse, script, poetry, spoken word, creative and non-fiction).

The Alpine Fellowship is now accepting applications for their Theatre Prize, awarded for the best playwriting response on the theme of ‘Language’. The winner of the Theatre Prize will receive a cash prize to support the writing of their proposed play. The winner and the runners up will also be invited to attend their annual symposium.

The Papatango Prize is open for submissions until 11 March! The winning writer will receive £7500, a production of their winning script by Papatango and Park Theatre and publication by Nick Hern Books. Script feedback will be available to all entrants.

Theatre503 are accepting submissions of plays over 65 minutes in length for their 2024/25 International Playwriting Award.

Tuesday 2nd July, 11am-2pm.

The Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab programme is an entry-level course designed to support new writers to create a play over 9 months.

Pentabus are looking for an emerging theatre artist to become their first Jerwood Writer in Residence. The £12,000 bursary supports a professional playwright in the early stage of their career, giving the recipient the opportunity to spend up to a year at their base in Ludlow, South Shropshire. During their time with Pentabus, the recipient will write at least one new full length play or piece of theatre.

Kali is looking for two exceptional short scripts by writers of South Asian heritage that explore the theme of Climate Crisis.

Moya Jane Productions are producing their first scratch night, Optimise the Interim, at Barons Court Theatre and are keen to hear some new voices.

The Royal Court Introduction to Playwriting Groups are once again open for submissions!

NOVA is a seed commission for writers of South Asian heritage or connections offered by Tara Theatre to submit and explore ideas inspired by the themes of Tara Theatre’s future seasons.

SoulSpire Arts are hosting their debut scratch night at The Space on Sunday 29th September. Pieces must relate to the theme of “Roots & Connections” and should be no longer than 10 minutes.

The Polka Playwriting Award will champion exceptional playwriting and the important creation of new work for Young Audiences. Scripts must be written for any age range between 7-13, with a maximum cast of 4 performers, and should not have been performed before.

Hippodrome Origins is an 18-month artist development programme for creatives in the West Midlands who make theatre.

The Bush Theatre, ATG Entertainment’s Creative Learning team and the producers of Shifters are inviting applications from early-career Global Majority playwrights for a paid opportunity to create short responses to the themes of Benedict Lombe’s Shifters.

The Writers’ Corner is seeking 5-15 minute scripts from global majority writers for their upcoming scratch night on the theme of love (familial, platonic, romantic or self-love) at The Pleasance Theatre.

The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2025 playwriting competition. Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays that have not yet been professionally produced. Plays must have a minimum of 65 pages.

Bristol Old Vic are open for applications for their Early Career Writers Programme 2024 - 2025. Writers must be from or based in the South West.

PLAY 4 is an opportunity for five writers to have 15 minutes of their work performed as a rehearsed reading by a cast of professional actors as part of an evening of new writing on Thursday 17th October. They are looking for pieces that make us care about people, past and present from the North East.

INK Festival is open for submissions of plays for radio or stage for their 2025 festival!

Hepburn Hooks Theatre Co. are looking to hear stories from Black and Brown women on any topic for their evening of short plays.

The People’s Play Award is for playwrights from the North of England who are yet to have a full-length play performed professionally. One winning script will be chosen for a six-night production in May 2025 in their Studio Theatre, and the writer will receive a cash prize of £1,000.

Peripeteia Theatre Company is inviting script submissions of full-length plays for The Boiler Room. Scripts must have a minimum run time of 40 minutes.

As part of their work in development programme Engine Room, Omnibus Theatre are accepting submissions for their Next Page Season, which offers writers the chance to share a script they’re currently working on with a public audience.

Write Club is The Hope Theatre’s new writing festival that will run throughout January 2025. Pieces can be between 45-60 minutes long, with no limits on cast size.

VAULT Creative Arts and The Glitch have been granted funds by Lambeth Council UKSPF, and Central Government to renovate their performance space, transforming the venue into an exciting, 55-seat space (available in-the-round, or with audience on 3 sides). They are now opening EOIs for programming for their Spring Season!

Led by Liverpool’s Royal Court Stage Write team with the help of professional writers and directors, this programme aims to develop your writing skills and guide you towards developing a full-length script for stage. Meeting two evenings a month for nine months the programme is completely free and is open to writers living or studying in Liverpool City Region.

The Young Writers’ Workshop is Menagerie’s flagship development programme for writers aged 18-30, living in the East of England and around Cambridge. It is led by Menagerie’s Co-Artistic Director, Patrick Morris.

Playwrights’ Studio Scotland are open for applications to a variety of support programmes for Scottish playwrights, including their Playwright Mentoring Programme, Disabled Playwright Support Programme, Play Development Bursary, Bursaraidh Leasachaidh Dealbh-chluich Gàidhlig and Self-led Projects, along with their National Script Reading Service.

Applications for the BBC Writers Open Call are open until 12 noon on Tuesday 3rd December 2024.

The Associate Artists programme offers bespoke, practical support to theatre artists, companies, creatives and writers in London.

Applications are now open for the Women Writers Festival 2025, taking place January 6th - 31st, 2025 at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden.

Salt Circle Productions are looking for submissions of 5 minute monologues on the theme of old and new for their eighth To Whom It May Concern at The Glitch on 29th January 2025.