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SCRIPT Submissions

Updated August 2023 

Goodman Theatre reads script submissions on a year-round, rolling basis. If you’d like for us to read and consider your work, please read the below information carefully for submission guidelines.

All unproduced play submissions will be read with both developmental and production opportunities in mind.


Playwrights with Agents
Please have your theatrical literary agent submit your play directly to Goodman’s literary office at PlaySubmissions@GoodmanTheatre.org.


Chicago-Based Playwrights without Agents
In an effort to meet a wider breadth of local writers, especially early-career writers, Goodman now accepts full-length scripts from Chicago-based, unrepresented writers.

Proposed scripts in this category will be read and considered by an evaluation and curation team comprising primarily staff of color, holding intersectional identities, representing departments throughout the organization.

Please email your play and, if you’d like, a brief note of introduction to PlaySubmissions@GoodmanTheatre.org.


Non-Local Playwrights without Agents
Because of the size of our staff and the volume of scripts we receive each year, Goodman does not currently accept full-length script submissions from writers outside the Chicagoland area who do not currently have an agent. If you’d like to introduce us to your work, please send the following in a single email to PlaySubmissions@GoodmanTheatre.org. Please note that we do not accept hard copy submissions.

  • a professional résumé
  • a brief synopsis of your play
  • a roughly 10-page dialogue sample of your choosing. If you send a full-length script, we will read only the first 10 pages of the document.

We request playwrights submit no more than one dialogue sample for consideration every six months. Please allow at least two months for submissions to be read and processed. A member of our literary department will contact you if we wish to solicit the full manuscript.