Max of 300 entries per category. Full Length Plays, Musicals, and Composer/Lyricists Submissions Preference Given To Arizona Artists
The southwest’s premier new theatre works festival.
Trust us, it’s a process.
January 9, 2026 to January 25, 2026
Judith Hardes Theatre and Mezzanine Terrace
Hosted annually by The Phoenix Theatre Company, the Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre amplifies new voices and expands the canon of American theatre. The 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will continue honoring our longstanding commitment to the development of new works, playwrights, and performers and include a variety of events that allow artists of all kinds to see their work come alive onstage. Next year’s festival will run January 9-25 and will feature: a play reading, two musical readings, two Composer Lyricist Cabarets, Choreography Lab, and the 24-hour Theatre Project. This is an opportunity to witness how a production goes from the page to the stage!
Submissions for the 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will be open July 15, 2025 – August 1, 2025. Please see Submission Guidelines and FAQs for more details.
How To Playwright is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
How To Submit
Review our main page for information and frequently asked questions. Then, upload your submission through the appropriate submission link on the main page. There is a $10 submission fee that will be waived for members of Writers Guild of America or Dramatists Guild. However, the $10 submission fee is NOT required for the Composer/Lyricist Cabaret.
All eligible submissions are welcome, and we're actively seeking submissions from artists with an Arizona connection to champion local creators. Due to time constraints, we are capping submissions for each category at 300 applications. Please submit early to ensure your work can be considered.
Artists for next year's Festival will be selected sometime in Fall of 2025. Submissions that reached the final round for the 2025 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will also be considered for the 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre.
This year I had the pleasure of mentoring a few dozen writers in preparation for submission to Concord Theatricals Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. I thought I would summarize some of the advice I gave to these aspiring writers. I’d also love to hear about any techniques that work for you; feel free to comment below.
Audrey Cefaly is an Alabama-born playwright whose work explores the quiet, aching corners of the human experience. Known for her lyrical language, emotional intimacy, and deep empathy for outsiders, Cefaly’s plays center on characters who are scarred, stubborn, and still reaching for connection. Read: The Poetic Architecture of Audrey Cefaly’s Plays
Her critically acclaimed play Alabasterwas developed through the National New Play Network and received the largest NNPN Rolling World Premiere in history. Other works include The Gulf (Lambda Literary Award winner), Maytag Virgin, The Last Wide Open, and Love is a Blue Tick Hound. Her plays have been produced at Signature Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Florida Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, The Fountain Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, About Face Theatre, American Blues Theater, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Penobscot Theatre Company, and countless others.
Cefaly’s work is published by Concord Theatricals, TRW Plays, and Applause Books.
Her style is often described as Southern Gothic, but she prefers “Southern Intimist”—a term that better captures her commitment to poetic realism, emotional weather, and the sacredness of small stories. Her characters don’t just survive; they stay, they fight, and sometimes, they get free. Read: Walking with Tennessee Williams
She is a recipient of the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, an Edgerton New American Play Award, the Lammy Award for LGBTQ Drama and the NNPN Goldman Prize. Audrey is also the creator of a growing collection of handmade stickers and strange love letters to the writing life via her Substack, How to Playwright.
She currently resides in Baltimore with her rescue dog Rosa and her husband Tim (also a rescue).
How To Playwright is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Submit (Full Length Plays, Musicals, Original Songs): The Richard P. Stahl Festival Of New American Theatre, Deadline August 1, 2025
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Max of 300 entries per category.
Full Length Plays, Musicals, and Composer/Lyricists Submissions
Preference Given To Arizona Artists
The southwest’s premier new theatre works festival.
Trust us, it’s a process.
January 9, 2026 to January 25, 2026
Judith Hardes Theatre and Mezzanine Terrace
Hosted annually by The Phoenix Theatre Company, the Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre amplifies new voices and expands the canon of American theatre. The 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will continue honoring our longstanding commitment to the development of new works, playwrights, and performers and include a variety of events that allow artists of all kinds to see their work come alive onstage. Next year’s festival will run January 9-25 and will feature: a play reading, two musical readings, two Composer Lyricist Cabarets, Choreography Lab, and the 24-hour Theatre Project. This is an opportunity to witness how a production goes from the page to the stage!
Submissions for the 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will be open July 15, 2025 – August 1, 2025. Please see Submission Guidelines and FAQs for more details.
How To Playwright is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
How To Submit
Review our main page for information and frequently asked questions. Then, upload your submission through the appropriate submission link on the main page. There is a $10 submission fee that will be waived for members of Writers Guild of America or Dramatists Guild. However, the $10 submission fee is NOT required for the Composer/Lyricist Cabaret.
All eligible submissions are welcome, and we're actively seeking submissions from artists with an Arizona connection to champion local creators. Due to time constraints, we are capping submissions for each category at 300 applications. Please submit early to ensure your work can be considered.
Artists for next year's Festival will be selected sometime in Fall of 2025. Submissions that reached the final round for the 2025 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will also be considered for the 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre.
If you have any questions or experience any difficulties, please email us at newworks@phoenixtheatre.com.
Submit for the 2026 Richard P. Stahl Festival Of New American Theatre
Please review the submission guidelines before submitting.
For guidelines for full length plays, musicals, and composer/lyricists submissions, click HERE.
Play Submission Form
Musical Submission Form
Composer/Lyricist Cabaret Submission Form
For guidelines for 24-Hour Theatre Project submissions, click HERE
24-Hour Director Submission Form
24-Hour Playwright Submission Form
Selections for the 28th Annual Richard P. Stahl Festival of New American Theatre will likely be made in Fall of 2025.
How To Playwright is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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PREVIOUS ARTICLES BY AUDREY CEFALY
How to Write the 10-Minute Play
This year I had the pleasure of mentoring a few dozen writers in preparation for submission to Concord Theatricals Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. I thought I would summarize some of the advice I gave to these aspiring writers. I’d also love to hear about any techniques that work for you; feel free to comment below.
If These Goats Could Talk
How to Layer Grief Without Sentimentality
The First Page is a Lie
Writing From the Middle of the Wreckage
How to Write the 10-Minute Play
Walking With Tennessee Williams
My Top 10 Playwriting Hacks
52 Vocabulary Words for Playwrights
10 Things Playwrights Wish Their Actors Understood
To Speak or Not to Speak?
21 Things I Know About Playwriting
LEAN MORE ABOUT AUDREY
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Audrey Cefaly (she/her)
Playwright. Southern Intimist. Tender-hearted troublemaker.
Audrey Cefaly is an Alabama-born playwright whose work explores the quiet, aching corners of the human experience. Known for her lyrical language, emotional intimacy, and deep empathy for outsiders, Cefaly’s plays center on characters who are scarred, stubborn, and still reaching for connection. Read: The Poetic Architecture of Audrey Cefaly’s Plays
Her critically acclaimed play Alabaster was developed through the National New Play Network and received the largest NNPN Rolling World Premiere in history. Other works include The Gulf (Lambda Literary Award winner), Maytag Virgin, The Last Wide Open, and Love is a Blue Tick Hound. Her plays have been produced at Signature Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Florida Repertory Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, The Fountain Theatre, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, About Face Theatre, American Blues Theater, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Penobscot Theatre Company, and countless others.
Cefaly’s work is published by Concord Theatricals, TRW Plays, and Applause Books.
Her style is often described as Southern Gothic, but she prefers “Southern Intimist”—a term that better captures her commitment to poetic realism, emotional weather, and the sacredness of small stories. Her characters don’t just survive; they stay, they fight, and sometimes, they get free. Read: Walking with Tennessee Williams
She is a recipient of the David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, an Edgerton New American Play Award, the Lammy Award for LGBTQ Drama and the NNPN Goldman Prize. Audrey is also the creator of a growing collection of handmade stickers and strange love letters to the writing life via her Substack, How to Playwright.
She currently resides in Baltimore with her rescue dog Rosa and her husband Tim (also a rescue).
How To Playwright is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.