Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival

The Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival develops and champions vibrant new work that primarily features characters between the ages of 15 and 30.

The Festival works to provide significant opportunities for college-aged actors and to incubate new American plays for both conservatory and professional stages. 

The Festival accepts full-length plays and short play submissions each year from playwrights nationwide, and selects five full-length plays and ten short plays to develop at the week-long event in the beautiful River Campus at Southeast Missouri State University. 

THIS YEAR'S SUBMISSION PORTAL IS NOW OPEN.
If you would like to view guidelines for festival submissions, click the link below.

Submission GUIDELINES

If you have any questions or submission issues, please email Co-Artistic Director Tim Nicolai at tnicolai@semo.edu.

Past Festival playwrights have had work produced or developed at leading theatres and institutions including Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, the Kennedy Center, The Goodman Theatre, MCC Theater, The Playwrights Realm, Ars Nova, Alliance Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Festival playwrights have trained at esteemed programs including The Juilliard School, Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, NYU Tisch, UT Austin, UC San Diego, Sarah Lawrence College, and the Iowa Playwrights Workshop.

The 2027 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival will be held in person at the Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance on the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University from May 23 to May 29, 2027.

The Festival will feature staged readings of five Official Selection full-length plays and seven Official Selection short plays. 

The Festival also features a significant conference component, with seasoned professionals leading workshops and masterclasses for student and early-career actors, writers, directors, and designers. Past speakers have included Martyna Majok, 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Cost of Living, Molly Smith, artistic director of the Tony-winning Arena Stage; Robert Barry Fleming, executive artistic director of the Tony-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville; Hana S. Sharif, artistic director of the Tony-winning St. Louis Repertory Theatre; Lonny Price, multiple Emmy-winner and Tony-nominee director/actor; and many more.

After the festival, one full-length play will be selected for the festival’s top prize. It will receive its world premiere in the 2027-2028 Dobbins Conservatory Mainstage Season. It will be considered for publication by Concord Theatricals, the world’s most significant theatrical publishing company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark, and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection. Members of Concord assist the Festival as both play readers and on the Selection Committee for the Festival's Full-Length Prize.