Submissions deadline: 3rd September 2026
Submissions are invited of new plays for AboutFACE’s 2026 NEWvember New Plays Festival.
This year we will be reading a selection of 3 curated full-length new plays, plus an evening of 5 new 10-minute plays commissioned for the festival. If you would like to be considered for one of the playwright slots, please submit at https://aboutfacetheatre.ie/submit-your-play-2026/
Criteria for Submissions to NEWvember New Plays Festival
- Please submit 10 pages of a play (if you submit more pages only the first 10 will be read). You may submit a 10-page extract from a full-length play or a 10 page playwriting sample.
- If it’s an extract from a completed full-length play, you may ask for it to be potentially considered for a full reading if shortlisted.
- plays should have a cast size of 2-8
- we will only accept one submission per writer each year
- we are interested in plays from playwrights based in Ireland
- we ask that the writers attend the reading of their play towards its further development and to be present for a post-reading Q&A with the audience
- there is no fee for submissions
- while we are open to all styles and subjects, we do have a preference for narrative and character-driven stories. Plays will be selected based on their originality, range, production potential, narrative quality and emotional resonance
You will be asked to include:
- your play excerpt as a PDF (without the writer’s name, email or other identifying marks on any page throughout the script – to aid our blind reading process). The script should include a character list.
Submissions Form
Within the form, you will be asked to include your name, play title and contact details (location, email and phone), which will be kept in a database unseen by the reading panel.
Please note that these criteria will be applied strictly and any submissions made after the closing date or not following the submission guidelines will not be considered. In addition, our festival’s reading panel will not be able to provide feedback on specific plays or on the status of your application.
The writers of the plays that have been shortlisted will be contacted in early October. Those selected for the short plays will be given their 2/3 actors and will have a month to write a 10-minute play with guidance from our dramaturg. The invited playwrights will be announced in October.
Click here for more information on the Festival.
And see here for more Resources on Writing for Stage and Screen.
