Play Submissions

8/26/2024 UPDATE:

If you submitted an entry prior to 11:15a CT on Wednesday, August 14, we kindly ask that you email literary@steppenwolf.org for next steps on how to resubmit your entry. There was an error that affected all submissions prior to this time. If you have submitted your entry after the above date and time, your entry was accurately collected and you can disregard this update. Thank you all for sharing your work with us and apologies for any inconvenience.

We are grateful for your interest in sharing your voice with us. With the hope of creating a streamlined and transparent process, we offer the following information to give you a sense of what to expect when you do. 

Our mission at Steppenwolf Theatre Company is to strive to create thrilling, courageous and provocative art in a thoughtful and inclusive environment. We seek work that sparks curiosity, empathy and joy to help artists and audiences navigate our complex world together.

Steppenwolf plays contain collision. This manifests itself in many ways: collision of ideas, events, personalities, ideologies, etc. It is essential that stakes are high and that the central plot has the potential to inspire nuanced conversation. Rich character work is especially appealing to our ensemble members. We are interested in modes of storytelling that help expand our audience’s idea of what to expect when they come into our space and we welcome work that is brave, complex, intersectional and bold. 

Steppenwolf Theatre Company accepts full-length scripts year-round from literary agents and theatre professionals with whom we have an existing relationship; if you are a represented writer, please have your agent send us your material directly. We regularly attend virtual and in-person readings, festivals and productions. We have strong relationships with play development centers, other theaters and writing programs that result in many submissions each year. In addition, we research and actively solicit new work from local writers and/or unrepresented artists who are not yet on the national radar. 

For many years we have accepted unsolicited submissions for a period each summer from Chicagoland writers only, but starting in 2021, we now accept unsolicited submissions from unrepresented talent everywhere, which has greatly increased our pool. In recognition of our commitment to fostering unrepresented voices, we invite unrepresented writers to submit a sample of their work to the Steppenwolf Literary team using the form below. The submissions window for 2024 is August 12-25.

Please note that scripts received via this portal will be considered for Steppenwolf membership series and any potential future workshop or commissioning opportunities.

To be considered, please include the following via the portal below: 

• Brief biography
• One paragraph play synopsis
• Ten pages of sample dialogue
• Brief statement (no more than 200 words) detailing why you see Steppenwolf as the right home for your project

Submission parameters:

• Because we are an ensemble theater, we do not consider one-person plays.
• Plays that require a cast of more than 12 performers cannot be considered, and plays with casts of six or fewer will have a greater chance of fitting into an upcoming season.
• We do not accept submissions of musical projects.
• Work written explicitly for the virtual platform will not be considered.
• Due to our limited staff and in an effort to consider as many new projects as possible, please do not resubmit work that has already been reviewed.
• We only accept unsolicited submissions via the portal on this site; no hard copy submissions, please.
• Please submit only one project per year.   

Due to the number of submissions we receive and our limited capacity, we cannot personally respond to every submission. Please know that every submission is read by trusted and paid literary personnel within 4 - 6 months, and if we are interested in requesting the full script, you will hear from us in that time. If you do not hear from us by then, please know that your work has been given careful consideration and that we won’t be requesting the full script.

We look forward to reading your work!