The Hippodrome Theatre’s Fifth Annual New Works Festival
✦ Florida Voices ✦
The Hippodrome Theatre supports established as well as new and emerging talent and is accepting submissions for its fifth New Works festival!
Submissions must be received by
September 27, 2024 at 12 p.m.
See submission guidelines for more information
Winners will be announced January 13, 2025!
Development, rehearsals, and performances will run from Feb 23 – March 1, 2025.
Develop your work and join our community of artists!
Started in 2020, The Hippodrome Theatre’s annual New Works Festival was created to support narrative voices through the development and exploration of plays in traditional and experimental formats representing the diverse landscape of artists in Florida and their stories which reveal the American experience based on the kaleidoscope of identity. We support innovative, experimental or thought provoking material, formats, and styles.
Some of our selected plays have included the eco-feminist meditation on climate change in Florida in Jessica Farr’s experimental King Tide; an investigation of the cycle of incarceration and justice in Terrence through the eyes of a teen African-American boy as explored through the hip-hop poetry of Gainesville native Terrence Jackson, adapted for the stage with Jane Edwards; a musical experiment that investigates the space where identity, loneliness, and community meet in a new musical combining elements of opera and theater in Ken Pedersen’s Yes, No, Maybe Omm; an innovative-format play that takes a magical look at motherhood and LGBTQ+ identity in Monica Cross’ The Changeling; a look inside the lives of fast-food workers in The Ultimate Cheeseburger by Jena Rashid; competition, friendship, and divorce in the world of Magic, The Gathering in Slaymaker by Bethany Dickens Assaf.
Festival Details
Chosen playwrights spend one week in residence with a professional producer, director, and Equity or Equity-eligible actors.
Chosen plays receive a $ 300 prize
The festival presentations are concert readings and staged readings. The emphasis, therefore, is on the language and dialogue of a show.
Submission Guidelines
- Open to playwrights of all ages, but must reside in Florida.
- Scripts must be original, unproduced and unpublished plays. Plays which have had readings or workshops are eligible.
- Plays must be full length; no less than 70 pages in length and have no more than 5 actors.
- Writers may submit up to two plays.
- Email submissions of complete scripts must be RECEIVED by noon on September 27th
What Should I Submit?
- A completed entry form
- A bio and creative resume of the playwright/s
- One digital copy of your script that includes
- A Title Page with authors name and contact information
- Second page: brief statement on the development history of the play, if any
- Third page: a one-paragraph synopsis of the play and a character breakdown with brief character descriptions and notation of any doubling.
Meet the Behind the Scenes Team
"The NWF allows us to support and be part of theater growing and changing which is what theater does best. Bringing new voices into the conversation and supporting emerging artists is a dream come true and an integral part of our mission. The festival is my favorite time every year."
“The New Works Festival is the culmination of a dream to provide developmental support to playwrights in a welcoming, nurturing, and dynamic environment.”