If you have any technical questions about the submission form, your login information, or payment, please contact Submittable directly through THIS LINK.  

Application Instructions

Please complete your application by 11:59pm PST on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Early submissions are encouraged. Please review the 2024 NPC Application Guide and eligibility requirements below before starting your application. This form will request the following materials:

• Contact and Demographic Information:  This includes your name, email address, telephone number, physical address, and optional demographic information. If you have an agent or professional representation, you will be asked to share their name and contact information.
• Script PDF:  Be prepared to upload a single PDF of your script and developmental goals. Your name, contact information, and agent information (if applicable) must be removed. We are only able to accept PDF files.
• Developmental Goals: This should be no more than a page in length. Please use this opportunity to share your larger developmental goals for the play, and what you would hope to accomplish at the Conference if selected. This should be included on the last page of the PDF of your script. 
• Biographical Statement: Please focus on your background as a playwright or theater artist. This can be in the style of a standard bio—the kind you might see in a playbill—or something more extensive. There is a 500-word limit.
• Additional Information:  If applicable, you will be asked to provide a developmental history of your play that includes any prior readings, staged readings, or workshops. If you are adapting a work that is not in the public domain, you will be asked to upload proof of your permission to adapt this material.
• Administrative Fee: The administrative fee for the 2024 National Playwrights Conference is $20. This fee helps offset the costs associated with the organization and administration of NPC: the submission platform, application processing, materials review, and more. If this fee poses a financial barrier for you, please request a fee waiver at this link before you begin your application. 

Eligibility Requirements

• You must be 18 years of age or older to submit a play to NPC and have the right to work within the United States. 
• You may submit an original or adapted work, providing that the rights to any material not in the public domain have been granted in writing and a copy of the release is submitted alongside the script below. 
• Your play must not have had a professional production, or be scheduled to have a professional production, before July 31, 2024. If you have any questions about this, please visit our website FAQs for more information. 
• If your play has previously received—or is scheduled to receive—a developmental workshop, reading, or staged reading prior to July 31, 2024, you must disclose that information in your NPC application below.
• While we welcome all genres and styles of drama—including one-acts and solo shows—NPC does not develop works of musical theater. You may submit those to the National Music Theater Conference. 
• Please note that, at time of writing, all staff, artists, and participants of O'Neill programs—including selected NPC playwrights—must be fully vaccinated with a booster shot before their arrival on campus. Please visit our website for more information about our COVID-19 policies.
   

Questions?

• If we discover an error in your application, the O'Neill will contact you through Submittable. You will have 48 hours to correct your materials. If your application is not corrected, it will be withdrawn from consideration and your fee will not be refunded. Otherwise, please expect to hear from us by March 2024 with an application status update.
• If you have any technical questions regarding the submission form, your login information, or payment, please contact Submittable directly through THIS LINK.  
• If you have any questions regarding your application's content, please contact the O'Neill literary office at litoffice@theoneill.org.

"NTI is a practicum. It is your laboratory. We hope to test your limits. We hope that you exceed your own expectations and perceptions of what those limits may be. We hope to redefine what you believe is possible, the possibilities of what can happen in a day, and the possibilities of what can happen on the stage. The people you work with at NTI join you on your professional and personal journey sharing a common experience, language, and work ethic.  Ready? Let's begin!" - Rachel Jett, NTI Artistic Director
 

THANK YOU FOR APPLYING TO THE NATIONAL THEATER INSTITUTE!  We look forward to reviewing your materials and working together to support your artistic aspirations.  We are now accepting applications for the following programs: 

• THEATERMAKERS SUMMER INTENSIVE — Summer 2024 
• NATIONAL THEATER INSTITUTE — Fall Semester 2024 

Please note that we are not accepting applications for the National Theater Institute's Spring Semester 2024.
 

QUESTIONS?  Contact us at ntiadmissions@theoneill.org. Please add this email to your contacts to ensure that you receive all your materials.