Some guidance on submitting your play to She Writes
She Writes is an event featuring script-in-hand rehearsed readings of short plays and extracts from work in progress from female playwrights curated and run by 17Percent. It is currently on hiatus but keep checking back, as we do plan to start it up again.
What sort of plays are you looking for?
We generally have a theme or a topic to each event. This can be interpreted as loosely as you wish. We have showcased a range of styles of play, and look forward to reading non-traditional work. We are looking for writers whose words say something to us – you don’t necessarily have to have written a play before. We tend to have a mixed audience of adults.
What length and how many characters?
Ideally we are looking for plays of 10-15 minutes maximum, but we accept shorter (and sometimes a couple of minutes longer). We don’t have a limit for how many characters, but with a shorter play a maximum of 4 or 5 seems to work best.
New for 2014: We are also accepting extracts from work in progress. Please send us a synopsis of the rest of the play, and describe how the piece fits in.
What format should my script be in?
If you are new to playwriting take a look at our guidance on formatting. You don’t have to follow these guidelines – but it does give us a good idea of how long your play will be in performance if you do.
How do I know dates of shows/which themes are coming up?
Dates will be posted on this site or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. We also share our information in ME4Writers’ monthly email newsletter.
How do I submit a play?
Email us your short play and let us know which theme you are submitting for.
What happens once I’ve submitted my play?
We programme each event to show a good range of plays and writers, sometimes this means that we won’t choose a play if it is very similar to another. We will contact you by email to let you know if your play has been chosen as soon as possible after the deadline. If your play is chosen, we would like you to be there, the rehearsed reading format is a valuable tool in the development process of a play. We will ask you for your bio for the programme, and also if you would like to be featured on our She Writes Introduces page.
What if my play is not chosen?
If your play is not chosen we will contact you by email. Due to anticipated volume of submissions we are not able to give individual feedback on a play.
Can I submit for more than one evening?
Yes please do, although we aim to showcase plays by as many different playwrights as possible.
Can I submit more than one play for an evening?
Please don’t submit more than two plays for one topic.
What happens on the day of the performance?
To get as much out of She Writes as possible, we would invite you to attend the afternoon rehearsal (this is flexible, and not mandatory, but we’d love to meet you!) so you can talk to the actors and director and other writers. After the performance, we will collate feedback from audience forms and send the comments to you (also optional).
What happens if I am not chosen?
Please submit again, if you are inspired by any of the topics. At each She Writes we have plays we would love to include but can’t because of time, or other factors, so please don’t be discouraged.
How can I get in touch?
Please email us with any She Writes enquiries.
Future development
We have worked with playwrights we first encountered through She Writes on other projects (Lounge on the Farm, Rochester Literature Festival), and like to feature updates our She Writers on this website, so please keep in touch!
She Writes is a non-profit, unfunded initiative and so unfortunately there is no payment or reimbursement of expenses to writers, directors, performers or anyone else involved in the production of each piece.
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