Call for Submissions
Program Overview
The Evolving Playwrights Group is a group for groundbreaking and provocative voices in the theatre to dedicate their time, energy, and attention to developing highly-theatrical, ambitious, brand-new plays. Participating playwrights will be challenged to write an “impossible play,” which pushes the boundaries of form, language, or subject.
Chosen playwrights will take part in a bi-weekly writers’ group led by Circle X Theatre Company’s literary team to workshop their impossible play, culminating in a public reading in winter 2024/2025. The program will also include one-on-one support through peer/mentor pairings and opportunities to learn from visiting playwrights about craft, industry, and writing practice.
The group will meet primarily via zoom from March 2025 to January 2026, with a break in December. There will also be opportunities to gather in person to build community, celebrate, and commiserate through the new play process.
A Note about Scheduling: Writers group meetings will take twice per month from 7pm to 10pm PST on a week night chosen by the writers and facilitators. This group is intended for writers who are primarily based in Los Angeles. Final readings will take place in November 2025 or January 2026, pending Circle X production schedule and writer availability.
Eligibility
EPG is a program designed for evolution rather than emergence. Circle X is looking for experienced, confident writers who have a strong sense of their artistic identity and process but who are hungry for community, growth, and discovery.
Eligible writers will have a strong sense of their voice and identity and a robust artistic toolbox. At a minimum, playwrights should have one full production produced by a professional theater at the time of application. (If you had a production that was canceled or postponed due to COVID-19, that does count when determining eligibility. Please be sure to mark productions that were canceled/postponed as professional productions on your resume.)
Playwrights of all ethnicities, orientations, gender identities and expressions, abilities, religions, and ages are strongly encouraged to apply.
Submission Guidelines
The application form can be found here. In your application you will be asked for your resume and bio, a 10-page sample of an existing play, a project proposal and short-answers to the following prompts.
In the application, you will be asked for your resume and bio, a 10-page sample of an existing play, a project proposal, and short-answer responses to the following prompts.
Short Answer 1: Describe your artistic goals and vision as a theatermaker. How is your voice evolving? (250 words or less)
Short Answer 2: Why are Circle X and EPG a good fit for you at this time? For your new play? (250 words or less)
Short Answer 3: What will you contribute and what do you hope to gain from this community of playwrights? (250 words or less)
Project Proposal: What’s the impossible play you are afraid to write? How does it push the borders of language, form, or subject? This should be a brand new play, i.e. there should be no existing draft. (500 words or less)
About Circle X
Circle X Theatre Co. is a not-for-profit ensemble of artists dedicated to highly provocative, boldly theatrical productions of new and rarely-seen plays and the development of new works for the stage. We believe in imagination over budget, adrenaline over inertia, irreverence over convention, and excellence overall.
The Circle X Theatre Company Evolving Playwrights Group was founded by Lisa Sanaye Dring and Jim Leonard in 2020. Lee Hannah Conrads and Simi Fulton will serve as facilitators and producers over the course of this year’s program