Unplugged Submissions
Playwrights Horizons is testing a new idea!
We invite artists to submit scripts for “Unplugged” productions.
“Unplugged” is a new production model that de-emphasizes physical production costs, keeping artists’ pay a priority. We aim to produce our inaugural “Unplugged” show in our 2025-2026 season. Our goal is to find new approaches to theater-making in the hopes of building a healthier and more sustainable future.
Before automation. Before intelligent lighting instruments. Before lavalier microphones, animatronic robots, projection mapping. Before falling chandeliers and swinging Spidermen. Before multimillion-dollar lobby renovations and subscriber perks. There was a text, a stage, an actor, an audience.
Playwrights Horizons exists to put as much new theater in front of as many audiences as possible. To this end, we’re pursuing some new approaches to making theater which turn the financial constraints of these times into an asset, valuing people and artistry over materials and spending. In a climate where shorter seasons have led to fewer jobs for artists (boo!), our aim is to expand programming (yay!), to produce more with less, and to rediscover what is essential about theater.
“Unplugged” is one of several tactics we’re experimenting with to get there. It will be a mainstage show that’s intentionally conceived around a minimal budget for physical production, focusing on a creative design rather than on material goods. It is neither a workshop production nor a stepping stone to a larger production. And crucially, working on Unplugged projects won’t mean working for lower fees. Writers, directors, designers, design assistants, actors, and stage managers will be contracted on all applicable union agreements; compensation will be consistent with traditional productions on Playwrights’ mainstage and not reduced by a restricted production budget. The motto: People, Not Stuff.
Come experiment with us?
Through October 8, we’re inviting eligible submissions for “Unplugged”
Playwrights Horizons is inviting playwrights to submit scripts specifically for the “Unplugged” producing model. We are seeking plays that are large in imaginative scope but lend themselves to a radically reduced production budget. Submissions will be accepted through this portal, provided they meet the following criteria:
-
Playwrights must be based in the United States.
-
Playwrights are invited to submit one play only, during this submission period.
-
Plays must be full-length, and as yet unproduced in New York City.
-
Plays must be written for no fewer than three actors, and no more than six actors.
Please note that we will not accept re-submissions of plays you have sent Playwrights Horizons, now or in the future. Additionally, because of the high volume of submissions and small size of our staff, we regretfully are not able to respond to each application.
The Unplugged Challenge
Re-invention will take a shared commitment to embrace the discipline and limitations of producing differently, from every artist, producer, and staff member on the team. We’re in this together.
Submissions will only be considered with an artist’s explicit agreement to adhere to…
THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT!
-
21 days in the rehearsal room + 3 days of tech onstage.
-
1 week of previews (including preview rehearsals) + a 4-5 week run.
-
Set will be assembled from pre-existing in-house inventory, not built.
-
Lighting will use conventional equipment from in-house stock. No rentals.
-
Sound will use in-house stock. No rentals or mics.
-
Costumes will be shopped or pulled, not built.
-
Limited use of live music in performance.
-
No child performers, projections, turntables, automation, animals, water, blood, fire, sand, snow, confetti, flying, or special effects.
-
Apart from the core creative team (playwright, director, set designer, costume designer, lighting designer, sound designer, and their assistants), there will be one modest budget line for a single additional team member (e.g. fight director, intimacy coordinator, vocal coach).
Questions to Consider When Determining if a Play Is Suitable for Unplugged:
Do the Rules of Engagement excite your imagination around the play? Can the play honor all the rules? In what ways will the play, and the creative process, actively benefit from a spare approach? Does a work of Realism (such as Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Piano Lesson) truly require a realistic, life-like design? What do you love about watching a run-through of plays in a rehearsal room? Does the play’s language evoke setting?
Theater is a humble materialist enterprise which seeks to produce riches of the imagination,
not the other way around.
– Charles Ludlam
Interested? Got questions? On Monday, September 23rd at 6pm, Natasha Sinha (Associate Artistic Director) and Lizzie Stern (Literary Director) will host an information session. Please RSVP here; a Zoom link will be sent on September 23rd. If you’d like access to the recording, please email lit@phnyc.org.