New Works Mission

To help established and emerging playwrights develop new works as a part of LBP’s commitment to the arts.

Festival Mission

To give each winner a quality reading that focuses on the words of the playwright in order to service the objective evaluation and critique of their work.

 Literary Committee Mission

To objectively read, evaluate and vote on submitted works to discern the readiness for readings.

Established over 30 years ago, the New Works Literary Committee and Annual New Works Festival is a part of Long Beach Playhouse’s commitment to the arts.  Each year starts with novice and experienced playwrights sending their un-produced plays to the committee. Each script is read and evaluated by members of the Literary Committee.  Two “Winners” are selected for the festival.  Each evening one of the winning plays is presented in the form of a staged reading providing the playwright the opportunity to hear their words brought to life by actors.  The audience plays an important part by providing feedback for the playwright in the discussion that takes place after the staged reading.  Winning playwrights also receive detailed written critiques by professional theatre critics.

The LBP New Works Festival Committee accepts un-produced, un-published, non-musical, full length English language plays. Submissions should be formatted as a PDF using size 12 font, in either Times Roman or Courier.

 The 2025 festival submissions are closed!

Thank you to everyone who submitted! We have reached our maximum, please email [email protected] if you have any questions.

Interested in reading new plays and help picking the winners of our Festival? Join the Committee! Email [email protected] to find out more!

If you have any other questions regarding the Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival, please send an email directly to the New Works Literary Committee at:

[email protected]

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