New Works Now: Nurturing New Plays for the American Stage

January 10 – 12, 2020

An annual festival of workshops that culminate in free public readings, New Works Now is designed to enrich the theater experience of our audiences and artists who are hungry for daring and impactful stories. Post-show responses are valuable to the play development process and have shown that our unique audiences are willing to engage with new work in a collaborative environment. The festival, held each January, has served as a guiding light for our company and has helped rebrand Northern Stage as a bold and visionary theater.

“How wonderful that Northern Stage is a research and development lab for the next generation of classics!” – Alex Trow, Actor

History & Successes of New Works Now

In 2014, the leadership team of Northern Stage made a commitment to develop new work for the American theater by instituting New Works Now. Since then, the New Works Now mission has grown to include providing additional workshopping opportunities, producing New Works Now-nurtured plays as part of our main stage season when possible, and making a concerted effort to shepherd these plays into a bright future on the American stage.

New Works Now attracts submissions from playwrights all over the country, sees talented actors, directors, and dramaturgs lending their expertise to the process, and plays to sold-out houses. 

For the first time in the company’s history, Northern Stage will present two world premieres in one year during its 2019-20 Season.​

New Works Now-Nurtured Main Stage Productions:

Orwell in America by Joe Sutton (2014)
Mad Love by Marisa Smith (2016)
Trick or Treat by Jack Neary (2017)
Only Yesterday by Bob Stevens (2018)
Venus Rising by Marisa Smith (2019)
Jordan by Brenda Withers (Premiering Fall 2019)
Citrus by Celeste Jennings (Premiering Winter 2020)

New Works Now-Nurtured Off-Broadway Productions:

Orwell in America by Joe Sutton (2016, 59E59 Theaters)
Trick or Treat by Jack Neary (2019, 59E59 Theaters)
Only Yesterday by Bob Stevens (2019, 59E59 Theaters)

Click here for a full list of past New Works Now plays.

“As the title character, (Jamie) Horton delivers perhaps the finest performance I’ve seen Off-Broadway this year.” –  The New York Times​

A Note to Playwrights

Thank you for your interest in Northern Stage and New Works Now. At this time, submissions of full-length plays for Northern Stage’s New Works Now festival are by invitation only. We invite you to introduce us to your work by sending a resume along with a synopsis and a 10-page selection from one of your plays to newworksnow@northernstage.org. We will get in touch if we would like to request a full script copy. The deadline for consideration for New Works Now 2020 has passed. The deadline for consideration for New Works Now 2021 is June 15, 2020.

Selections for our January festival are announced in December. Only plays selected (3-4 per year) will be given a workshop/reading and the possible opportunity for further development or a full production. We see more than 100 submissions per year.

Please do not mail physical copies of manuscripts and do not submit on behalf of a playwright without their express permission. Finally, contact Jess (jchayes@northernstage.org) if you have any questions.