Gulfshore Playhouse has announced the Seventh Annual New Works Festival call for submissions will begin Thursday, Nov. 1.

 

The New Works Festival brings together playwrights, professional actors and directors from across the country for a weeklong event culminating in a series of staged readings for an audience.

 

Gulfshore Playhouse will consider the first 150 submissions from playwrights and agents.  Submissions sent prior to Nov. 1 at 12 p.m. will not be accepted. Only full-length plays that have not had a full production are eligible. At this time, Gulfshore Playhouse is not accepting musical submissions.

 

Applicants should submit two PDF files: a cover page with name and contact information, and the script with no playwright information. Files should be emailed to submissions@GulfshorePlayhouse.org. Scripts not received in the requested format will not be considered until they are resubmitted in the correct format.

 

The 2019 New Works Festival finalists are chosen through a blind submission process. Next summer, semifinalists will be contacted regarding their availability and willingness to participate in the festival, which will factor into the selection of the finalists. Each finalist will receive a $500 honorarium, as well as airfare and accommodations for the duration of the festival.

 

“The Gulfshore Playhouse New Works Festival has restored my faith that even in a time of reduced budget for the arts in this country, there is still a place nurturing new voices,” said playwright Laura Maria Censabella, whose work “Paradise” was featured in the Fourth Annual New Works Festival.

 

The festival allows playwrights to transition from writing, to adding actors and an audience, to understanding how the play works in a performance setting.

 

“The New Works Festival is one of the best ways we can contribute to the national landscape by fostering the growth of up-and-coming playwrights,” said Gulfshore Playhouse Producing Artistic Director and Founder, Kristen Coury.

 

“It is especially exciting when a play emerges from the festival that we feel is a great fit for our audience and our theater, like “Miss Keller Has No Second Book,” a finalist from the 2017 festival that we produced as part of our 2017-18 season.”

 

The Seventh Annual New Works Festival will take place Sept. 9 to 15, 2019.

 

For more information or questions, contact Gulfshore Playhouse Artistic Content Curator Audrey Zielenbach at azielenbach@GulfshorePlayhouse.org.

 

Gulfshore Playhouse is passionately committed to enriching the cultural landscape of the region by producing professional theater to the highest artistic standards and providing unique educational opportunities to diverse groups of people in a spirit of service, adventure and excitement. The Playhouse’s work is inspired by a belief in the magic of theater to expand the imagination, challenge the senses, provoke discussion, and revitalize in audiences an understanding of their common humanity. This belief drives the care with which Gulfshore Playhouse treats its artists, audiences, students, staff, and members of the greater community.

 

This focus is also at the core of its newest endeavor – the creation of a cultural landmark facility in downtown Naples. Plans are currently underway for the new Gulfshore Playhouse Theatre and Education Center at Goodlette-Frank Road and First Avenue South, which will include two theaters and an education wing to support programming for children, adults and families.

 

For more information about Gulfshore Playhouse, visit www.GulfshorePlayhouse.org or call 239-261-PLAY (7529).