Submit to Mu's 2026 New Eyes Festival
Theater Mu’s New Eyes Festival is staged readings of new works from Asian American playwrights—an artistic incubator for thoughts and ideas looking to be born onto the stage. In the 2024/25 season, Theater Mu launched a new submission model inviting playwrights to submit their work. For the 2025/26 festival, Theater Mu continues the new tradition, with a twist: This year, Theater Mu is inviting playwrights to submit 10-minute plays or script excerpts answering the prompt, “What does freedom mean to you?”
The deadline to submit is Sept 17, 2025, or when we have reached 100 submissions. Playwrights whose work is selected will be paid a stipend of $250.
A staged reading is a form of theater without sets or full costumes. The 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 can also contribute to the process.
Past works at New Eyes include Samah Meghjee’s Maybe You Could Love Me, Isabella Dawis and Tidtaya Sinutoke’s Half the Sky, Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, Katie Ka Vang and Melissa Li’s Again, and Lloyd Suh’s Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, but those are only a handful across the festival’s legacy since 1993.
Dexieng Yang & Katie Ka Vang reading Brian Dang’s Grandmother/Bathtub, one of two scripts selected from more than 70 submissions for our 2024 New Eyes Festival.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Submit your play by clicking the link at the bottom of this form. Please read all the information before submitting.
This year's New Eyes Festival will be a festival of 10-minute short plays. Submissions may be standalone 10-minute plays or 10-minute excerpts from a larger work. All submissions should somehow relate to the prompt, “What does freedom mean to you?”
The deadline to submit is Sept 17, 2025, or when we have reached 100 submissions.
Playwrights must be 18+ to submit.
Limit two submissions 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.
Scripts need not be in their final form, but they should be complete enough to share with an audience.
We are accepting scripts that have 4-5 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.
New Eyes Festival features work from both Minnesota and out-of-state playwrights. We encourage playwrights from Minnesota and/or the Midwest to apply. Writers from all geographic regions are considered, including international writers.
Theater Mu cannot pay for travel at this time. If your script is selected and you would like to travel to the Twin Cities yourself, you would be 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 for a playwright to attend rehearsal and performance remotely, if desired.
SUBMISSION CRITERIA
1) New scripts. 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 and are curious about giving it a new life. If you are unsure whether your script follows these guidelines, feel free to reach out.
2) Visionary scripts that align with Theater Mu’s mission. Theater Mu was founded on three core tenets: 1) Asian American stories, 2) exemplary theater, and 3) social justice. If you have a point of view that intersects with this mission, we want to hear from you.
3) 10 minutes in length. Scripts should be roughly 10 minutes when read aloud. Scripts may be standalone, or they may be excerpts from a larger work. If submitting an excerpt, please indicate in your submission where the excerpt should start and stop. The remainder of the script will not be read as part of the submission process, although you may give context in your submission form.
FAQ
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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.
This year, Theater Mu, along with countless arts organizations across the country, has faced threats to its funding unless they comply with censorship rules. For the 2026 New Eyes Festival, we want to lift up the conversation around restrictions facing artists today by asking playwrights what freedom means to them.
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The New Eyes Festival readings will take place on Jan 22-24, 2026, at the Playwrights’ Center in Saint Paul.
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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.
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Theater Mu cannot pay for travel at this time. If your script is selected and you would like to travel to the Twin Cities yourself, 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 for a playwright to attend rehearsal and performance remotely, if desired.
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Playwrights whose work is selected for presentation will be compensated a stipend of $250.
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No, there is no fee to submit your play for consideration.
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We are not able to accept musicals at this time.
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Yes, we are accepting scripts for young audiences.
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Yes! Only scripts submitted via the 2026 New Eyes Festival form will be considered.
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Submissions will be evaluated by a reading committee consisting of Mu staff and affiliated artists.
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Five 10-minute plays will be selected. One additional full-length play has been pre-selected by Mu artistic staff in anticipation of a world premiere in 2026.
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Yes. All submissions will be notified whether or not the script is selected for presentation.
MEET THE SCRIPT COORDINATOR
JANE PEÑA (she/her) has used her background in dramaturgy, arts administration, and most recently her graduate degree in library science to serve as Theater Mu’s office and literary manager since 2020. As a dramaturg, reader, script supervisor, and artistic apprentice, Jane has experience with: Theater Mu, Yale Cabaret, the Playwrights’ Center, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Goodman Theatre, the Playwrights’ Realm, and others.