Ends on This opportunity will close after 850 submissions have been received.
SUBMIT to The 50th Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival

HOST:

          Concord Theatricals / 250 W. 57th St., South, 6th Floor/ New York, NY 10107

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:

          The Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival offers a prize of publication and licensing for six short plays in the notable OFF OFF BROADWAY FESTIVAL PLAYS series. In addition, the 30 semi-finalists each receive a full production in one of New York City’s leading Off Broadway theaters.

          Though many of the works that play in the Festival have been developed under the wing of theatres, universities, and writers' groups, many of the plays that are produced as part of the Festival are world premieres.

The 2025 OOB Festival will be accepting submissions starting on November 12. This year, we will be capping submissions at 850, as we are committed to providing thorough and thoughtful consideration to each script in a timely manner. Submissions will close when we either reach our limit of 850 submissions or our deadline of November 26, 2024 at 11:59pm EST. Playwrights may submit one unpublished play or musical that is up to 15 pages in length with a max run time of 15 minutes (ideal run times are between 8-13 minutes). On the application, playwrights must cite the organization that will produce their play (often it is the playwright themselves) as well as a liaison for Concord to contact with Festival information. Submissions are whittled down by the Festival’s editorial staff, and the Final 30 playwrights are chosen to present their work during Festival week.

          Festival week consists of four nights of staged reading performance sessions in which seven to eight scripts (10 to 15 min pieces) are presented in front of a judging panel, which is comprised of professionals representing various parts of the theatre industry. At the end of each session, the judges deliberate and one to three plays are selected to move on to the Festival Finals.

          Finals take place on the Saturday of the Festival week. During the Finals, the Festival staff will watch the final 10 to 12 plays and select six pieces to be a published in the OFF OFF BROADWAY FESTIVAL PLAYS series, which is published and licensed by Concord Theatricals.


WEBSITE:

http://www.oobfestival.com/


CONTACTS:


 

  • GENERAL EMAIL (for all OOB questions): oobfestival@concordtheatricals.com




 

  • GENERAL PHONE (for all OOB questions): 1-866-979-0447




 

  • CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Casey McLain 


 


 

  • CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Garrett Anderson




DATE AND LOCATION:

          Summer 2025

          New York, NY


ELIGIBILITY:


 

  • Short plays and musicals that are no more than 15 pages in length and have a max run time of 15 minutes (ideal run times are between 8-13 minutes).




 

  • Writers may submit only 1 play, including plays they have co-authored. Producers (writers' groups, theatre companies, universities, etc.) may submit up to 15 plays accredited to their organization, but can only submit one play by an individual playwright. 




 

  • Each nomination must submit a separate application form. Conglomerate entries on one application, even by one and the same playwright, are not acceptable. 




 

  • Plays must be written primarily in English (non-English words or phrases within the context of the play are allowed, extensive use of non-English language must provide translations).




 

  • Plays must be typed, and in no less that 10-point type, in conjunction with formatting suggestions listed in the Dramatist Guild's Formatting Guidelines. Note that cover pages or additional cast size pages are not required and will not be counted against the 15 page limit.


 


 


 

  • Plays may not be written using any generative artificial intelligence (AI); however, writers are not prohibited from utilizing AI as part of their creative process. If a writer utilizes generative AI in creating their play, they must be the owner of that AI generated content or be authorized by the owner to either create works derived from the content or to incorporate the content into their play. It is the responsibility of each writer to ensure the entire content of their submission does not violate the rights of any other person or party. Any play that Concord Theatricals discovers to be an infringement or a violation of the rights of another person or party shall be ineligible, even if the violation/infringement was unintentional on the part of the writer(s).




 

  • Playwrights previously published any of Concord Theatricals’ umbrella companies Samuel French, Inc. or their subsidiary Baker’s Plays, Tams-Witmark, Rodgers & Hammerstein, or The Musical Company are not eligible for submission into the Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. Plays presented in previous Off Off Broadway Festivals are not eligible for re-submission.




 

  • Poetry and short story readings will not be accepted.




 

  • Concord Theatricals in its sole and absolute discretion, shall select plays for participation in the 2025 OOB Festival from among all entries, and its decisions are final. Concord Theatricals reserves the right to remove any selected play from participation if the play, its producers, and/or its authors are not in compliance with the Application and/or the Competition Guidelines, and/or if the additional documents are not timely signed and returned. Production of selected plays shall be at the sole cost and expense of the Producer, and no royalties or other payments are or will be owed by Concord Theatricals.



Concord Theatricals will provide: 


 

  •  The theatre space with a basic lighting plot, including pre-set general cues and basic sound equipment.
  •  Chairs and music stands. 
  •  All front-and back-of-house personnel, including a stage manager and board operator. 
  •  Liability insurance. 
  •  Marketing materials.

 

Please note that we are unable to provide housing during the Festival week.

TO SUBMIT:


 

  • Your OOB Submission must be submitted by the Author[s] of the Play unless you are submitting as the representative of an Organization. 




 

  • “The author is responsible for securing a director or producing company (or self-producing/directing) their work if the work is selected as a Festival participant. The responsibilities of the Producer or author (should they self-produce) include, but are not limited to: the casting (note; our 2025 festival will be a non-equity festival); the appointment of the director (if applicable); rehearsals and rehearsal space; transportation; housing (if applicable); costumes (if applicable), and all fees and expenses attendant thereto.




 

  • The author is also required to select a Production Liaison, who is authorized to speak and act for the Producer in all matters concerning the Festival. The author can also serve as the Production Liaison.




 

  • Script submissions will be accepted in digital format only, via Submittable. Each submission should be uploaded as a single PDF document. Documents must be labeled as follows: PlayTitle_Author’s Last Name.pdf. 




 

  • All portions of the application below must be complete.




 

  • Concord Theatricals will notify applicants of their admission into the OOB Festival by May 2025.



TERMS OF USE (please agree below):

        By accepting the terms and conditions, you, the writer, or one of the writers if applicable, (the “Author”) of the attached submission (the “Play”) wish to apply to Concord Theatricals for participation in the 50th Annual Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival (the “Festival”), commencing in Summer 2025 by presenting the Play at the Festival.

 

1. Author agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Concord Theatricals, its parents, subsidiaries and affiliates and their respective shareholders, members, directors, officers, employees, agents, successors, assigns and legal representatives, from any and all manner of claims and/or proceedings related in any way to the Author’s participation in this Festival or any events ensuing from their participation. 


 

2. Author represents and warrants that: 

(a) they are either: (i) the sole writer of the Play, or, (ii), if multiple parties are the writers of the Play, that Author both (x) is one of the writers and (y), with respect to each and all parties having authorship of the Play, Author has the express authority to submit the Play for inclusion in the Festival and to bind each and all writer(s) to the terms and conditions herein; 

(b) they have the exclusive right and authority to freely grant to Concord Theatricals all necessary and customary production rights to the Play as may be necessary or convenient for the presentation of the Play, if selected, for the term of the Festival; 

(c) if the Play is an adaptation of another pre-existing work not in the public domain, that permission to make and present the Play as an adaptation of a pre-existing work has been unequivocally granted by the copyright owner of the pre-existing work; 

(d) they have not utilized any artificial intelligence (“AI”) in the creation of the Play, or, if they have utilized AI in the creation of the Play, that Author is the sole owner of the outputs generated using such AI or derived therefrom; and

(e) nothing contained in the Play violates the right of privacy of, or right of publicity, or constitutes a libel or slander against, or violates any other rights of, any person, firm or corporation, including but not limited to rights under copyright, trademark and/or contract. 


 

3. Author ratifies, approves, and agrees to be bound by and to the terms and conditions of the Application, including these terms of use, and the respective decisions of Concord Theatricals. If the Play is selected, Author agrees to sign and deliver, or to cause to be signed and delivered, such additional documents as Concord Theatricals may request in order to give full force and effect to the terms of the Application and the Competition Guidelines and to permit the presentation of the Play. 


 

4. If the Play is selected for publication and licensing by Concord Theatricals, in its sole discretion, Author agrees that the following clauses shall be non-negotiable: 

(a) Concord Theatricals shall have the sole and exclusive world-wide publication rights in the Play in all languages, for the duration of the Play's copyright (with such publication rights including, but not limited to, acting editions, anthologies and reprints; digital rights; and rights of translation). 

(b) Concord Theatricals shall have an exclusive agency throughout the world for the duration of the Play's copyright for the purpose of licensing the play on Author’s behalf (and, if applicable, on behalf of all the writers of the Play) on the living stage in all languages pursuant to the terms of this sample agreement (or an agreement substantially similar thereto). 

Author acknowledges that by submitting the Play to the Festival, Author is agreeing to be bound by, and binds Author’s co-writers, if applicable, to, the terms of the sample agreement (or an agreement substantially similar thereto) if selected as a winning play. 

 

5. Author acknowledges and agrees Concord Theatricals is not responsible for technical hardware/software failures of any kind, lost/unavailable network connections, or failed/incomplete, garbled, or delayed computer transmission, which may limit Author’s ability to submit the Play, complete the Application, or otherwise participate in the Festival. Author acknowledges that by submitting the Play to the Festival, Author is agreeing to Concord Theatrical’s Privacy Policy. Visit https://concord.com/privacy-policy/ to read Concord Theatrical’s Privacy Policy

I have read and understand the above terms and conditions of this application as well as the posted competition guidelines. The Author attests that they, and any other co-writer of the Play, if applicable, are over eighteen (18) years of age, and may freely submit the Play to the Festival. If Author, or any other co-writer of the Play, is under the age of eighteen (18), please contact oobfestival@concordtheatricals.com for festival eligibility.

Concord Theatricals