Call for Submissions
Theatre Alberta – Call for Indigenous-Authored Scripts (AB/National)
Theatre Alberta’s Indigenous Theatre Library Collection initiative is seeking unpublished scripts that have already been produced, be it by a theatre company or more generally in community settings. Their aim is to improve the representation of Indigenous playwrights’ scripts in the Theatre Alberta Library collection. While their Library currently has about 175 scripts by Indigenous playwrights, most of which have been formally published, they are also interested in collecting unpublished plays written by Indigenous playwrights.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Rising Tide Theatre – Call for Script Submissions (NL)
Rising Tide Theatre is delighted to announce an open call for unsolicited script submissions!
Playwrights are invited to submit their work for consideration.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Playzoomers – Call for Submissions (National)
Playzoomers is always seeking short, medium, and full-length scripts that lend themselves to live, online (Zoom) production, with a maximum of 5 or 6 actors/characters. They are interested in straight plays, not musicals.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Imago Theatre – Play and Project Submissions (QC/National)
Imago Theatre is a professional feminist theatre company based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Québec. Its work examines questions about human nature, climate change, politics, power dynamics, and the treatment of women and marginalized groups in our society. If you believe that your script is in line with Imago’s mission, you are welcome to send a synopsis of the play, a 10-pg sample, and a CV, to [email protected].
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Playwrights Theatre Centre – Dramaturgical Reading Program (BC/National)
Open to submissions from across Canada, PTC’s Dramaturgical Reading Program is perfect for playwrights who are looking for a structured and critical response to their completed one-act or full-length play. PTC welcomes submissions from playwrights at any stage of their careers. After receiving a completed submission, one of their experienced dramaturgs will respond with a report that includes a detailed analysis of the script, constructive criticism, and questions for consideration. Applicants must have an existing PTC Playwright Membership, and must pay a $125.00 + GST fee for submission.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Intermission Magazine (ON/National)
Are you a theatre artist interested in contributing to Intermission? They publish personal essays, original journalism, interviews, profiles, and audio/video content. Let them help you tell your stories about what happens behind the scenes before the curtain goes up and after it goes down. Pitch them a feature, essay, or opinion piece you want to share with the audiences who want to see your work. Intermission has expanded its content to include publishing short original dramas. They now accept excerpts of longer plays as well as short plays. Their focus is on high-quality writing (in the vein of the New Yorker or McSweeney’s if they featured Canadian theatre writing) They’re looking to hear from Canadians—both established playwrights and new, original voices.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Roseneath Theatre – Script Submissions (ON/National)
Roseneath Theatre has been producing work of the highest quality for children and their families, teachers and communities since 1983. They are open to inquiries from playwrights year-round. To be considered, playwrights are asked to submit a one-two page outline of their play which includes the idea, the target audience, the cast size, the story, press reviews, production history and any other additional details.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Native Earth Performing Arts – Script Submissions (ON/National)
Native Earth Performing Arts accepts unsolicited script submissions year-round. Please include a bio or writing resume, an outline of the script’s development history, and why you are interested in submitting this play to Native Earth Performing Arts.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Harold Green Jewish Theatre – Script Submissions (ON/National)
Harold Green Jewish Theatre’s founding vision statement is to illuminate humanity through a Jewish perspective, by inviting artists and audiences to participate in live theatre, the meeting place of all the arts. Playwrights who are new to Harold Green should send the first 15 pages of their script, along with a synopsis, and a letter outlining the development history of the play.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Stratford Festival – Script Submissions (ON/National)
Currently the department focuses on (but is not limited to) ambitious, large-cast plays that articulate the great themes of classical theatre, as well as plays that feature a female point of view or reflect the cultural diversity of Canadian life. There are at any given time about twenty-five projects in active development in The Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program. They do not accept, and won’t read, unsolicited manuscripts. However, the Director of New Plays, Keith Barker, welcomes letters of inquiry about specific projects. Please submit a description of the work, plus any background on development to date.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Great Canadian Theatre Company – Script Submissions (ON/National)
GCTC prioritizes submissions from Canadian playwrights and/or playwrights residing in Canada. The GCTC mandate is to produce theatre that “provokes examination of Canadian life and our place in the world.”
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Dancing Sky Theatre – Script Submissions (SK/National)
Dancing Sky is seeking unsolicited manuscripts of full-length, original plays by Canadian writers. If you wish to submit a play, please include a complete manuscript, bio, resume, and any other print supporting materials (e.g. reviews) that might assist your application. Play submissions should be sent to Angus at dancingskytheatre.com
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Concrete Theatre – Script Submissions (AB)
Concrete Theatre is an award-winning Theatre for Young Audiences company that brings high-quality educational theatre to schools, communities, and families! Co-Artistic Directors Corben Kushneryk and Tracy Carroll welcome unsolicited scripts appropriate to touring and young audiences, and in line with Concrete Theatre’s mandate.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
The PLEDGE Project (National)
PLEDGE (Production Listing to Enhance Diversity and Gender Equity) is a searchable and filterable database comprised of large-cast (6 or more characters) plays by Canadian women.
Pledge was developed as a means to provide educators (and others) with a resource to find and produce work by women on university and college stages, where currently only 18% of the plays produced are written by women. That statistic plummets further when it comes to plays by Indigenous women, women of colour, women with disabilities, trans folks, and non-binary or gender nonconforming creators.
Playwrights who would like their work included in PLEDGE can fill out the following form for each piece of work they’d like included on the site and can email me with any images they wish to add to the listing or with any questions they might have.
Deadline: Ongoing
You can visit the Pledge website here: https://www.pledgeproject.ca
Young at Heart Theatre – Call for Submissions: One Act Musicals (PEI)
PARC Company Member Young at Heart Theatre is looking for new scripts for productions in 2027 and beyond. Young at Heart Theatre produces a one-act musical each year, touring to long-term care and community care facilities across PEI. They are committed to lifting the spirits, hearts and minds of older adults through story and song.
Submitted musicals should have an approximate run time of 60-75 minutes. Submitted shows should be relevant for an older audience and can not contain extremely dark themes or extreme foul language. The cast size can be no more than three or four if including an accompanist.
Submissions should include the following:
- Your full mailing address, phone number, and email address
- A short synopsis of your play
- A cast breakdown
- A copy of your script and score
- A short bio of the playwright and composer
- A brief cover letter, including why you believe your play aligns with their mandate.
Deadline: Ongoing
To submit a script, email [email protected]
To learn more about Young at Heart, click HERE.
Writing Retreats & Residencies
Hideout Residencies (PEI)
The Hideout offers retreat and vacation space to writers, creative folk, and visitors from across Canada and around the world. The Hideout is located on the scenic South Shore of PEI, a few minutes outside the village of Victoria-by-the-Sea.
The Hideout Cottage and The Tryon Suite are available for select dates in the shoulder season each spring and fall for low-cost, self-directed residencies. Writers and other residents should plan to work on a project or engage in practise for a minimum of one week (6 nights). Residents will arrive on a Saturday afternoon and depart the following Friday morning. Both units feature queen-sized beds and bedding, self-catering kitchens, wifi access, yoga mats and props, space to write and practise, outdoor space, and access to trails and bicycles. Because of the rural nature of The Hideout, residents should normally plan to have their own vehicle for the duration of their stay.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, please click and/or email [email protected].
Satori Artist Retreat (PEI)
Satori Artist Retreat is a quiet place to paint, write, create, rejuvenate. On Panmure Island, PEI, you can breathe and reconnect with your creative self. Contact [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.
Deadline: Ongoing
The Ross Creek Centre for the Arts (NS)
The Ross Creek Centre for the Arts offers both self-directed and project-based residencies to professional artists working in one or more of the following media: visual art, writing, theatre, dance, film, music, performance art, photography, fibre arts and video. Their Residencies provide a spectacular rural environment free from distraction. Each season offers a unique and changing landscape guaranteed to inspire artists of all disciplines.
They accept applications year round for residencies ranging from 2 weeks to 4 months between the months of September and June (with very limited space for individual artists in July and August, often as artist faculty to support their children and youth SummerArts Programming). Pending availability, shorter or longer residencies can be arranged.
To learn more and apply, click HERE.
Professional Development
Staging Better Futures / Mettre en scène de meilleurs avenirs (SBF/MSMA) partnership – Introduction to Equitable Theatre Criticism Free Online Course (Online/National)
Introduction to Equitable Theatre Criticism is a new online teaching resource available to educators, students, theatre artists, professionals, organizations, and members of the public interested in learning more about responding to contemporary theatre and performance as critics and/or arts journalists. The intention of this free, open-access, six-module course is to lower barriers to participation in theatre criticism for members of equity-seeking groups who are currently underrepresented in the field. The course is available free of charge on the open web, and also available for educators to adopt into Learning Management Systems.
Created by theatre critic and Brock University adjunct professor Dr. Karen Fricker, theatre artist Nathaniel Hanula-James, and cultural critic Jose Solís, the course is an affiliated project of the Staging Better Futures / Mettre en scène de meilleurs avenirs (SBF/MSMA) partnership.
For more information, click HERE.
Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal – Digital Dramaturgy Clinic (QC/National)
Do you have a performance piece you have been working on for some time, with concepts you want to fold into your work but do not know how to accomplish technically or digitally?
This digital dramaturgy “first-aid” program offers creators a one-time session (up to 2 hours) with tech and digital specialists to discuss their creation and the technical questions they might have.
The Digital Dramaturgy Clinic is an ongoing program, artists in need of assistance should contact Emily & Andrew at [email protected] with a short synopsis of their work and the question they wish to address so that the session can be prepared in advance.
Further consultation can be scheduled if appropriate. This program is set up to help you identify the expertise and technology you need to realize your vision.
Write on the Clock – FREE Writer’s Drop-In (BC)
Looking for company while you write? Write on the Clock is a virtual meeting place hosted by Liesl Lafferty and Olesia Shewchuk for writers to gather, work alongside one another, and be held accountable to their goals. These FREE drop-in rooms occur every Thursday 10:00am – 12:00pm PT (1:00pm – 3:00pm ET), and participants must register in advance.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
ArtsLink NB – Experts On Call (NB)
Artists and arts organizations: Could you use some help using digital tools to get your message out? Take the opportunity to consult our experts. Experts On Call is designed to provide artists and arts organizations with resources and access to digital experts to book online training appointments. There are four experts on our Experts on Call network, with expertise in areas such as Digital Marketing, SEO, UX and Web Accessibility, or Google Analytics. Each organization is given an allowance of two training appointments per calendar month, which you can use however you wish. Each training appointment is one hour.
Deadline: Ongoing
For more information, click HERE.
Canadian Musical Theatre Database (National)
A new online catalogue of Canadian musicals and an industry networking hub is up and running. The Canadian Musical Theatre Database welcomes submissions from artists and producers, and promotes itself as ‘a free, one-stop shop for people to find musicals by and about Canadians, to seek out other creators of musical theatre for collaboration, and to find producers’.
Awards
A Guide to Writing Prizes for Canadians (National)
CBC Books has rounded up a list of literary prizes Canadians are eligible to enter.
To learn more, click HERE.
NB Literary Promotion Grant (NB)
The program provides grants to assist in covering some of the costs of large-scale projects/activities/initiatives that encourage broad-based knowledge and awareness of the literary arts within the community.
There are three broad objectives that this Initiative is intended to serve:
• To create an environment where New-Brunswickers are encouraged to integrate books and the joy of reading into their daily lives;
• To improve access to books and foster reading;
• To support the province’s Book Policy.
There is no deadline for this program. Please submit an application at least three weeks prior to the start of your project. Projects should take place between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.
Full details and application form at the GNB website.