Submit to Mu's 2024 New Eyes Festival

The first iteration of Theater Mu’s free play-reading festival, New Eyes, was in 1993. Since then, it has become Mu’s longest running tradition, a showcase of new Asian American work, and an artistic incubator for thoughts and ideas.

For the 2024 festival, Theater Mu invites playwrights to submit their work for consideration. Playwrights whose work is selected will be paid a stipend of $500 after the festival, Nov 22-24, 2024. The deadline to submit is July 21, 2024, or when we have reached 75 submissions. **As of July 12, we have reached this maximum.

A staged reading is a form of theater without sets or full costumes, and actors read from scripts and incorporate minimal stage movement. The purpose is to gauge the effectiveness of the dialogue, pacing and flow, and other dramatic elements that the playwright or director may wish to adjust. Audience feedback also contributes to the process.

Past works at New Eyes include Madhuri Shekhar’s House of Joy, Isabella Dawis and Tidtaya Sinutoke’s Half the Sky, Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, Keiko Green’s Exotic Deadly, or the MSG Play, Katie Ka Vang and Melissa Li’s Again, Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay’s The Kung Fu Zombies Saga, and Lloyd Suh’s Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery.

Final bows after a reading of Madhuri Shekar's new version of House of Joy during the 2023 New Eyes.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submit your play by clicking the link at the bottom of this form. Please read all the information before submitting. 

PLAYWRIGHT REQUIREMENTS

Playwrights must submit their scripts by July 21, 2024, but Theater Mu reserves the right to end its call for submissions if it receives 75 scripts before that day. There is no fee to submit. **As of July 12, we have received more than 75 submissions and have closed the application.

Playwrights must be 18+ to submit.

Limit one submission per playwright. Writers may submit as co-writers, but a co-writer may not submit an additional script as a solo playwright or as part of another team. 


SCRIPT REQUIREMENTS

Scripts need not be in their final form, but they should be complete enough to share with an audience. Please do not submit a script with missing scenes or pages. 

We are accepting scripts that have any number of actors. It would be helpful to include in your submission any information about doubling, if possible. Please include a stage direction reader in your numbering. 

Scripts should be full length (e.g., not 10-minute plays).

Scripts for New Eyes should meet the following criteria: 1) new scripts, and 2) visionary scripts that align with Theater Mu’s mission.

  • Priority is given to scripts that have not been widely professionally produced, and/or are early in their life cycle. Maybe the script has never been read out loud; maybe the script has had one or two non-professional productions; maybe there has been a production but not in the Midwest. The script also need not be recently written—perhaps you wrote the script a long time ago but never shared it. If you are unsure whether your script follows these guidelines, feel free to reach out. 

  • Theater Mu was founded on three core tenets: Asian American stories, exemplary theater, and social justice. If you have a point of view that intersects with this mission, we want to hear from you.

FAQ

  • Historically, scripts have been selected for New Eyes Festival by an internal committee of artistic staff. By opening the festival to submissions, we are hoping to level the playing field and increase the number of opportunities for plays we may not know, or playwrights whose work we have not previously been able to engage with.

    New Eyes Festival also gives us an opportunity to hear a piece on its feet prior to consideration for full production in a later season. Previous Mu mainstage productions that had previously been presented at New Eyes Festival were Again by Katie Ka Vang and Melissa Li (2022 NEF, 22/23 mainstage season), Kung Fu Zombies vs Shaman Warrior by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay (2022 NEF, 22/23 season as part of The Kung Fu Zombies Saga), and Two Mile Hollow by Leah Nanako Winkler (2017 NEF, 2018 mainstage season).

    For the 2024 New Eyes Festival, one script has already been selected for presentation by internal artistic staff, leaving two scripts to be selected by open submission.

  • The New Eyes Festival readings will take place on November 22-24, 2024, at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis.

  • No. There may be a day of rehearsal with actors and a director to prepare actors for the reading, but the script will be presented as submitted.

  • Playwrights whose work is selected for presentation will be compensated a stipend of $500, which will be given after the festival on Nov 22-24.

  • No, there is no fee to submit your play for consideration.

  • Theater Mu is excited to read scripts that align with at least part of Theater Mu’s mission, which is to produce great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience. The content of the script is up to you.

  • We are not able to accept musicals at this time.

  • Yes, we are accepting scripts for young audiences.

  • Yes! Only scripts submitted via the New Eyes Festival form will be considered.

  • Submissions will be evaluated by a reading committee consisting of Mu staff and affiliated artists.

  • Two. One additional script has been pre-selected by Mu artistic staff.

  • Yes. All submissions will be notified whether or not the script is selected for presentation.

  • Theater Mu cannot pay for travel for lodging at this time. If your script is selected and you would like to visit the Twin Cities, you are more than welcome! Mu staff would be happy to assist you by making recommendations for local accommodations.

    We would also be happy to set up a Zoom call for the playwright to attend rehearsal and performance remotely, if desired.

Theater Mu