Garry Marshall Theatre Seeks Submission 3rd Annual New Works Play Festival

Garry Marshall Theatre offers playwrights an extension to submit for its third annual New Works Festival to be held September 14-16, 2020. Submissions now open through April 30, 2020.

With creativity budding in times of sheltering at home, the Garry Marshall Theatre is extending the deadline with an extra two weeks for playwrights who are putting finishing touches on their new plays, and to those who are taking this time to draft an original script.

This coming September, the 2020 New Works Festival will pair the five playwright finalists with professional LA-based directors and actors for readings of their plays. Following the readings, moderated talkbacks with the playwright, the audience and Garry Marshall Theatre's New Works Producing Team, will allow those in attendance to be part of the playwright's process. All finalists will be considered for future development and production at the theatre.

Back for his second year as Producer of the Garry Marshall Theatre New Works Festival, Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx shared, "Garry Marshall Theatre is committed to being a home for diverse, brave new voices. It's through the annual New Works Festival that we engage our citywide community."

Garry Marshall Theatre is interested in new work that is uniquely theatrical, authentically voiced, and has a strong point of view. Most importantly, the theatre is interested in the plays that writers are passionate about working on right now.

"The varied and exciting plays that have been submitted in the past have been remarkable. We know that the 2020 New Works Festival will be as compelling and provoking. This festival is at the heart of what Garry Marshall loved most: new voices, new ideas, and new stories. His passion for storytelling is the main reason he built this live theatre," said Joseph Leo Bwarie of the GMT. "We look forward to opening our stage to the third year of innovative and unique voices who have stories to be told."

Muñoz-Proulx added, "By sharing new scripts with our dedicated team of readers, matching local directors with the most innovative playwrights, welcoming diverse casts of our city's most skilled actors, and then ultimately, sharing all of this artistry with Los Angeles's dedicated theatre audience, this process places the audience and the playwrights at the center of the new play development journey."

The 2020 New Works Festival finalists will be chosen through a blind submission process. Applicants will submit their play as a blind PDF and fill out an informational form on the Garry Marshall Theatre website. Plays should be full-length and their form should offer a complete evening of theatre. Plays submitted should contain up to only six actors, and should not have received a previous professional production. Submissions require a $20 fee. Selected finalists will receive an honorarium.

Submission guidelines can be found at garrymarshalltheatre.org/new-works-festival-2020. Submissions are now EXTENDED through April 30, 2020.