Notre Dame Performing Arts 2022
New Play Festival
About
Our Theme
Process
About the Notre Dame College New Play Festival
Notre Dame College Performing Arts will host its annual New Play Festival in November 2022, showcasing unproduced plays for all members of the NDC and greater community. The search has begun, looking for the best and most promising theatrical works relevant to audiences today!
The three-day festival will consist of 3-4 performances of previously unseen theatrical works and will take place in Regina Auditorium on the Notre Dame College campus. Winners will be selected through a panel of NDC staff, community artists, and local residents. In addition to premiering these new works, an honorarium will be awarded to festival winners.
2022 Festival Theme
Citizens of the World
Nationally recognized and Cuyahoga County based playwright Eric Coble (Bright Ideas, Velocity of Autumn, Margin of Error) has been commissioned to write a world premiere short play (maximum of 30 minutes in length) to premiere at Notre Dame College! This piece will be presented with 2-3 additional new works from members of our greater community.
This is where you come in – This call is open to Notre Dame College Faculty, Staff and Students, as well as residents of Cuyahoga County!
If you are a Northeast Ohio Based playwright and/or performing artist and would like to submit a piece either you have already written or would like to write, we are looking for you!! If you would like to submit a piece, here are some parameters:
Selected piece should echo/focus on the festival theme We Are Citizens of the World.
Piece selected will be performed in repertory with 3-4 other pieces each night so minimal setting is preferred.
Pieces with small/smaller casts preferred due to the nature of the festival and production elements. Productions will be mounted as a minimally produced festival of new works!
Piece selected can be no shorter than 15 minutes and no longer than 30 minutes in length.
Piece can be solo pieces, spoken word, include music, and movement as well but must have a written storytelling element.
The 2-3 additional pieces selected will receive an honorarium.
About Eric Cobble
New Play Festival Featured Artist
Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised on the Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. His scripts have been produced on Broadway (Tony- and Pulitzer-nominated “The Velocity of Autumn”), Off-Broadway (“Bright Ideas”, “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus”, “Side Effects May Include…”), in Disney Theme Parks (“Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple”), in all fifty states of the U.S., and on several continents, including productions at Manhattan Class Company, The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Horizons, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Denver Center Theatre Company, Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, Cleveland Play House, Alliance Theatre, New York and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, Habima Theatre (Israel), Pentacion Productions (Spain), Teatr Polski (Poland), Orange Row (Mexico), and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival (U.S.)
Awards include three AATE Distinguished Play Awards, an Emmy nomination, the Chorpenning Playwriting Award for Body of Work, the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, a TCG Extended Collaboration Grant, the Cleveland Arts Prize, two Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Fellowships, and four Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Grants.
Thirty-two of Mr. Coble’s scripts have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Krause and others.
Learn more about Eric at www.ericcoble.com.
Eric will be leading a Playwriting Masterclass on Saturday, November 12th from 1pm-2pm in Regina Auditorium. Students, faculty and staff and the Northeast Ohio community are encouraged to attend this highly anticipated FREE event.
Notre Dame College 2022 New Play Festival Deadlines & Submission Details
AUGUST 31, 2022
- Submissions will be accepted through August 31, 2022.
- Submission should be emailed to Celeste Cosentino, Director of Theatre Studies, Notre Dame College Performing Arts. Email your submission.
- Format can be PDF, WORD, YOU TUBE links (if you have video footage of a piece) will be accepted.
SEPTEMBER 2022
- Selections will be made by a panel of NDC staff, community artists, and local residents by September 23, 2022.
NOVEMBER 2022
- The rehearsal period for selected works will be roughly November 1-17.
- Playwriting Masterclass led by accomplished, local Playwright Eric Cobble November 12th from 1:00pm-2:00pm in Regina Hall. Eric is also the featured artist for the 2022 New Play Festival.
- Performances will be held on November 18th and 19th @7:30 PM and the 20th @2:00 PM.
- Playwrights and performers selected will be asked to participate in talkbacks one of the three nights of performances (Nov 17-20).
The Notre Dame Performing Arts New Play Festival is generously supported through a grant from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.
The winner of the 2019 Notre Dame Performing Arts New Play Festival, “MIDNITE” by Rory Leahy and Rena Hardy, received its world premiere production February 2020 and the 2020 winning work, “Alice In Neverland” by Maggie Rader premiered at Notre Dame College in April 2021.
Hosting such a festival allows Notre Dame College Performing Arts to fulfill and enhance its mission of enriching the community and the appreciation of the arts through live performance. By utilizing the talents of the Notre Dame College students, and additional regional artists, the festival furthers our efforts of utilizing the stage as a platform to educate, enlighten and entertain the Greater Cleveland Community.”
Join Our Festival
Submit Your New Play
We are excited to create a platform for new voices! We have such a rich arts community here in Northeast Ohio and are honored to be a place for community engagement!
Questions about this year’s fesitval? Email Celeste Cosentino.