FutureFest Submissions
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR 2025
The Dayton Playhouse invites playwrights of all races and ethnicities, all gender identities, all physical abilities, and all ages to submit scripts for consideration as a Finalist for FutureFest 2025.
Festival dates: July 18 – 20, 2025. The Dayton Playhouse will hold the 2025 festival in person.
The submission deadline for FutureFest 2025 is October 31, 2024.
FEE
$20 submission fee per script. This fee will be waived for members of the Dramatists Guild. Checks and money orders should be made payable to “The Dayton Playhouse”.
Fees may be paid online by following this link to our online payment system.
ELIGIBILITY
Entry must be an original work written for THE STAGE and intended for an English-speaking audience*. No musicals or plays for children will be accepted. Plays must be full length with a run time of at least 75 minutes. The script must not have been published, or produced where admission was charged, prior to FutureFest 2025. Staged readings/workshop productions are not necessarily disqualifying factors. Playwrights may submit no more than two scripts for consideration for FutureFest 2025.
* Scripts may include phrases/sentences from other languages, even characters speaking in other languages, but the primary language of the script must be English.
DEADLINES
Submissions will be accepted August 31 through October 31, 2024 (electronic submission). The Dayton Playhouse will limit the total number of submitted eligible scripts to 375. Dayton Playhouse reserves the right to close submissions prior to October 31, 2024 should the submission limit be reached.
SCRIPTS
Electronic submissions of scripts are required. Scripts in PDF format are preferred. Word or Google Doc formats are acceptable.
Submit an anonymized copy (no name/contact info) of your script, in standard play format with pages numbered. After the title page include a brief synopsis, character breakdown, setting, and scene breakdown, if applicable. The script submission form (link below) must be filled out for each script submission. If applicable, the form also provides the opportunity to submit an image of your Dramatists Guild membership card.
Please note that entries that do not comply with our guidelines will be disqualified. Scripts must be submitted electronically via the Submission Form or via email as an alternative method. Script evaluations will not be provided.
CONSENT
Playwright gives the Dayton Playhouse permission to print scripts for reading/production purposes.
Should your script be selected and produced as one of the five Finalists, you must be available to attend, in person, the weekend festival (July 18-20, 2025) in Dayton, Ohio and participate in all events. Finalists must acknowledge “FutureFest 2025 at the Dayton Playhouse” as well as the Festival cast when the script is published. The winning playwright grants the Dayton Playhouse permission to produce the winning play as part of its 2025-2026 or 2026-2027 mainstage season.
SELECTION PROCESS
Each entry is guaranteed a minimum of three reads. The original play reading committee, following many months of discussion and voting, narrows down the entries to 15 – 18, which are then read by the entire committee before they select the 12 semi-finalists. A second committee selects the five finalists. During FutureFest weekend, the plays will each have a staged reading and be publicly adjudicated by a panel of theatre professionals (nationally-based and regional). Following the final production of the weekend, the adjudicators vote and select the winning script.
FINALISTS
Finalists will be posted on the Dayton Playhouse website (www.daytonplayhouse.com) in May 2025.
AWARDS
A $500 honorarium will be awarded to the winning playwright; all Finalists will each receive a $100 honorarium. The Dayton Playhouse provides the five Finalists travel (within the continental U.S.) to Dayton and lodging for FutureFest weekend.
The Dayton Playhouse reserves the right to produce a full production of the winning script for a future season, free of payment of rights. The show will have 6 performances over a two week period. The winning script will receive a full production as a part of a Dayton Playhouse mainstage season with six performances. Exact production dates are to be determined but will fall between March 2026 and May 2027. The winning playwright will have the opportunity to update the script based on feedback from the FutureFest weekend and participate in the production process.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
All submitting playwrights must complete the submission form for each submitted script. Please click this link to access the Script Submission Form:
FutureFest 2025 Script Submission Form
The form requires use of a Google account, and includes an option to upload script PDF documents. If you do not have or do not wish to use a Google account, as an alternative, you may e-mail the script to futurefest@daytonplayhouse.com. Please include in the body of the email your:
● Name
● Full mailing address
● Email address
● Website (optional)
● Play title
● Play synopsis (500 characters maximum)
● Attach anonymized play in PDF format
● Attach Proof of Dramatists Guild membership, if applicable
DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY
The Dayton Playhouse invites playwrights of all races and ethnicities, all gender identities, all physical abilities, and all ages to submit scripts for consideration as a Finalist for FutureFest 2025. The Dayton Playhouse seeks to learn if the diversity of our submitting playwrights aligns with the diversity of our FutureFest Finalists.
To do this, we ask the help of our submitting playwrights. At the end of the Script Submission Form is a link to an OPTIONAL anonymous Demographic Survey. Please consider completing this survey so we can better understand the level and types of diversity of our submitting playwrights. (Survey Link for Playwrights submitting by email.)
QUESTIONS
Contact Tina McPhearson or Debra Strauss, FutureFest 2025 Co-Chairs, at 937-424-8477, or email futurefest@daytonplayhouse.com.
