2026 Colorado New Play Festival

Accepting Submissions

Sept. 8th - Oct 24th, 2025

The Colorado New Play Festival provides playwrights and theatre companies with an opportunity to develop their work in beautiful Steamboat Springs, CO (about a three-hour drive from Denver). Each theatre company and its playwright will be collaborating with a director, actors, a dramaturg, and a stage manager for a week-long workshop supported by CNPF. We cover the cost of travel, housing, and meals for all participants.

At the end of the week, each piece receives a staged reading to an audience comprising their fellow participants, theatre lovers from Colorado, and industry professionals attending the Festival weekend. The readings are entirely at music stands in front of an audience with minimal blocking, lighting, or sound so that the focus remains on the text. Per Actors’ Equity Association guidelines, staged readings at the Colorado New Play Festival do not feature props. 

Artists at the 2026 Colorado New Play Festival will participate from June 8 to 15, 2026.

Submissions Guidelines:

  • Complete draft of the play and a filled out RFP (provided by staff).

  • Play must be full-length (an hour or longer).

  • Play must not have been previously produced.

  • Submission should be made by a staff member of a professional theatre company interested in further developing the play for production. We do not accept submissions directly from playwrights or their representatives.

Two people sitting at a desk in a classroom with a large world map on the wall, engaged in conversation. They have notebooks, pens, and water bottles on the table.
Two men with scripts perform on stage, one gesturing with glasses.
Two actors on stage, one wearing a blue jumpsuit and the other a gray shirt, performing a dramatic scene with expressive gestures.

Please email Executive Producer Matthew Laws at matthew@cnpfsteamboat.org to discuss your submission and receive the Festival RFP.

Festival Submission FAQ’s

  • We intend to have 4 plays developed at the 2026 Festival.

  • Submissions are read by our staff and by a group of theatre professionals who serve as outside readers for that year. For our outside readers, these are blind submissions; they will not know the names of the playwrights and theatre companies associated with the plays. After reading all of the submissions, our staff will discuss each script with our outside readers before making a decision.

  • Our outside readers only discuss the contents of a submitted draft, the piece's potential, and if the playwright's voice will help us have the most diverse lineup of new work possible for that year. Our staff will also consider the theatre company's wishes for the Festival, as outlined in their RFP, and assess whether the Festival can meet the piece's needs.

  • The Colorado New Play Festival focuses on new play development. Our festival gives playwrights the time and space to take their works to the next level. Over the course of a week, the collaboration with actors, directors, and dramaturgs brings new perspectives to the playwrights. The reading allows the playwrights to gauge audience reaction and further refine their pieces before production. The simplicity of the reading allows the audience to focus on the story and not be distracted by sets and costumes.

  • Plays are read by professional actors at music stands on stage in front of a audience. Readings at CNPF feature minimal blocking, lighting, or sound so that the focus remains on the text. Per Actors’ Equity Association guidelines, staged readings at the Colorado New Play Festival do not feature props. 

  • Steamboat Springs, Colorado has long been a haven for the arts. Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp, the oldest continually running performing arts camp in the country, is just outside of town and is the original home of the Colorado New Play Festival. The combination of nature, art and recreation here creates a theatre experience you won’t find anywhere else.

  • The Colorado New Play Festival began as the New Works Festival at Perry-Mansfield in 1996. In 2018, the festival became an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

  • 75% of the plays that come to the Colorado New Play Festival move on to production. Our plays have been produced all across the country from Colorado stages to Broadway!

  • All plays are read internally by staff and by guest outside readers. Input is evaluated and lively discussions ensue to ensure we are covering a wide geographic area of the country and bringing diverse ideas, voices and stories to the Festival each year.

  • The Colorado New Play Festival is unique in that we partner with theatre companies to bring plays from page to stage. We do not consider plays from individual playwrights. Projects must be connected to a theatre company. Interested theatre companies can contact us to discuss projects and request an RFP. 

    Click here to learn more.

  • All submissions must be made by a member of a theatre company that is actively interested in further developing and/or producing your play. We will not accept submissions sent directly from playwrights or a professional representative. There are no exceptions.

  • The Colorado New Play Festival partners with theatre companies. As we do not put on productions ourselves, our unique model allows us to ensure that the work done during the week has a life beyond the Festival.

  • We ask that another member of your company submit your play or that you champion someone else’s work.

  • We are open to any genre. We accept musicals and plays with music, but we will consider any additional costs (such as a larger cast size or the use of instruments onstage) in our decision-making process. While we also accept dramatic adaptations of pre-existing works, we are looking for pieces that are original to the playwright. If an adaptation is submitted, it should have a clear point of view from the playwright that helps tell the story in a new way. All of that said, what we are most interested in is the piece that your theatre is most passionate about bringing to the Festival, regardless of what category it might fall under.

  • We ask that each theatre company submit 1 play.

  • We do not consider plays that have been already been produced.

  • We do consider plays that have been previously workshopped.

  • We ask that you do not submit the same play again.

  • Any professional non-profit theatre company from anywhere in the United States that produces new work is eligible. We are currently only accepting submissions from theatre companies in the United States for our 2026 Festival.

  • The most recent draft of your piece and a completed RFP that we will provide you.

  • The submission window starts on Monday, September 8th, 2025, at 9:00 am MT and will end Friday, October 24th, 2025, at 4:00 pm MT.

  • There are no extensions. All submissions must be sent by Friday, October 24th, 2025, at 4:00 pm MT.

  • Theatre companies will be notified before the end of the year.

  • Theatre companies sign an institutional contract with the Colorado New Play Festival once selected. The agreement includes a standard development credit for CNPF in case the play is produced and that the theatre company will cover the expense of having a staff member represent the theatre company at the Festival if they do not have one participating.

    Please email Executive Producer Matthew Laws at matthew@cnpfsteamboat.org with any questions or for clarification.