SUBMISSION INFORMATION:
Magic in Rough Spaces 2025 New Play Lab
Rorschach Theatre in Washington, DC seeks full-length plays for developmental workshops and public readings in June 2025. The playwrights that are selected (one of whom will be DC-based) will receive transportation and housing for an in-person developmental weekend (June 12-15), some virtual development in the weeks preceding that weekend, a public reading of the script that weekend, and a stipend of $100.
The plays will be performed along with a theoretical design presentation and audiences will have the opportunity to talk with artists in a live post-show conversation.
THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED FOR THIS YEAR
please check back in the late summer / early fall of 2025
to submit for next year
ELIGIBILITY:
Magic In Rough Spaces is accepting scripts from any DC-Area playwright**
or BY INVITATION for playwrights not based in the DC-Area.***
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:
- The play must be Full-length (~60-120 pages)
- We are interested in Impossible Plays. For us, this means: plays that are epic in scope but intimate in their exploration of human psychology; Plays that include elements of mythology and the supernatural while remaining contemporary in their themes (and often settings); plays that lend themselves to unreal and fantastical design; plays that might be described as magic realism. We are not not interested in domestic comedies or kitchen sink dramas… even if it has a ghost in it.
- We love plays that explore challenging ideas, but not ones with easy answers or that proselytize. Like the inkblot test, we love plays that allow our audiences to make their own choices about what they see.
- Generally we like plays that have a respect for and optimism about Humanity. We’re not necessarily looking for happy endings, but we tend to avoid scripts that go full nihilist.
- It must be unproduced and unpublished. *
* Exceptions to the “unproduced” requirement: A university production where 50% or more of the cast were students, a one-night event, a production for which admission was not charged, a circumstance in which 30% or more of the script has been substantially changed following the production.
SELECTED PLAYWRIGHTS RECEIVE:
- A $100 stipend
- Transportation to and from Washington DC and housing for out-of-town playwrights (if the playwright is outside of the continental US, the full amount of travel might not be covered)
- A director, dramaturg, actors and designers for a development weekend
- Some development of the script virtually in the weeks preceding that weekend
- A Public reading in June 2025
THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED FOR THIS YEAR
please check back in the late summer / early fall of 2025
to submit for next year
** We consider DC-Area playwrights writers that live in: the District of Columbia; Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Frederick County, Charles County, and Calvert County in Maryland; City of Alexandria, City of Falls Church, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, Stafford County, Spotsylvania County, and Warren County in Virginia.
*** If you are not DC-Area based and feel you have a script that fits our criteria, you may email info@rorschachtheatre.com with “MIRS Invitation Request” in the subject line along with a 10-page script sample and one paragraph summary of your play. If we are able to accommodate additional submissions we’ll contact you with an invitation link. Please email your request before October 15.
