Chicago Writers Bloc is a play development group that focuses on presenting new plays developed in monthly sessions and regular new play festivals. Led by Joanne Koch, a widely produced playwright and noted Emeritus Director of the National Louis University Master’s in Written Communication Program, the not-for-profit Writers’ Bloc has brought over 250 new plays and musicals to Chicago area audiences, supported in part by grants and by festival attendees and contributors. Many of these plays have gone on to win local, national, and international prizes with productions locally and around...

The Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project is a free, weeklong songwriting workshop for young, aspiring songwriters between the ages of 18 and 30. Led by award-winning master teachers, this program is for songwriters of all genres: music theatre, contemporary pop, R&B, country, rock, Latin, jazz, and many more!

Purple Crayon Players is a student-run theatre organization at Northwestern University that focuses on producing professionally written Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). PLAYground is Purple Crayon’s annual festival of new plays for young audiences. PLAYground fosters the development of each script through partnerships between professional TYA playwrights and Northwestern undergraduate directors and actors, whether it is the work’s first reading or its final workshops before publication or production. After a collaborative rehearsal process focused on the playwright’s development goals, we...

Purple Crayon Players is a student-run theatre organization at Northwestern University that focuses on producing professionally written Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). PLAYground is Purple Crayon’s annual festival of new plays for young audiences. PLAYground fosters the development of each script through partnerships between professional TYA playwrights and Northwestern undergraduate directors and actors, whether it is the work’s first reading or its final workshops before publication or production. After a collaborative rehearsal process focused on the playwright’s development goals, we...

The Old Lady project is an initiative to encourage the development of plays and musicals that feature significant roles for female identifying characters over 50. Plays will be submitted to a national panel of directors and producers and two staged readings will occur in Evanston per year. A directory of works will be featured on the Old Lady Project webpage to facilitate connections between theatre companies, directors and producers.

The American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University supports the development of new musicals. AMTP’s goal is to provide artists and their works with the proper time, space, and resources to realize their intended vision and shepherd them through the next step of their developmental journey. Additionally, inviting artists and pieces to campus allows Northwestern students to engage with new work in a rewarding and illuminating way through performance opportunities, assistantships, and observation. AMTP strives toward becoming a fully inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist...

Interrobang Theatre Project, in association with The Theatre School at DePaul University, is proud to announce The Playwriting Initiative. It is our belief that it falls on every theater in our community to nurture new work. Our commitment to playwrights will include providing a supportive environment with necessary resources such as actors, directors, and space.

A new works festival produced by Underscore Theatre Company. Each show is responsible for their own production, meaning casting, rehearsing, designing, marketing, teching, and presenting their show.

It's not a cabaret. It's the Tiny Storefront Concert Series. Four times a year, Underscore produces TSCS, a high-energy, BYOB weekend of new songs by emerging musical theatre writers, all arranged around a core theme. ​ Audiences come because it's a big, fun party. Writers submit because they can test their work in front of a live audience, and get high-quality videos for their portfolio. Actors and musicians take part because it's a blast, and because even for small-scale events like TSCS, Underscore believes in paying our artists well.

he mission of the Black Ensemble Theater is to eradicate racism and its damaging effects upon our society through the utilization of theater arts. BE is the only theater in the nation whose mission is to eradicate racism. We utilize theater and educational outreach programs to bring races together in a community which embraces similarities and fosters dialogue, understanding and acceptance.

Every year we seek 10-minute audio drama scripts that are genuinely scary, imaginative, chilling, intelligent, suspenseful, horrific or downright grotesque. Writers may submit up to two audio drama scripts to Deathscribe in any given year. Five scripts will be selected from all submissions. These five pieces will be performed on stage in front of a live audience. The writer of the winning piece, chosen by a celebrity panel of judges, will receive the coveted Bloody Axe Award, as well as a $100 cash prize.