Submissions for SOUND BITES 13 are now OPEN
SOUND BITES 13
Monday May 4, 2026 at 7pm
Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, NYC
Submission Information
General Questions
When is the deadline to submit, and is there a fee to submit?
The submission deadline for SOUND BITES 13 is the end of the day on Monday December 1, 2025. (Please note this is an earlier deadline than in the past). There's no fee to submit!
Click here for submission guidelines.
Who chooses the musicals?
The shows are adjudicated by a group of diverse industry professionals that includes producers, literary managers, directors, professional performers, and writers from previous SOUND BITES festivals, guided by our Theatre Now staff members. The committee considers artistic quality, uniqueness, and diversity of the pieces to ensure the evening represents a wide range of styles and types of musicals. Female, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ writers as well as writers with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Do I need to live in the NYC area to participate?
No; however, you will need someone to represent you and attend all required meetings if you do not live in the area.
How much does it cost?
As Theatre Now is the producer of SOUND BITES, we provide free and discounted rehearsal space as well as an honorarium to cover the majority of your expenses. We're the only short musical theatre festival to do so. That being said, there are some out-of-pocket costs depending on your show's requirements (cast & creative team size, number of rehearsals, size of rehearsal space, etc.) and personal choice. Most of these costs relate to specific set-dressing, props and costumes for your show and additional personnel such as musicians.
Guidelines
SUBMISSION
GUIDELINES
Theatre Now defines a 10-minute musical as any piece that can be performed in 10 minutes or less; has a beginning, middle, and end story arc; and includes music. Having produced over 100 pieces, we want musicals that are diverse and current, that test the musical form and communicate a well-crafted story. We accept musicals across all styles and genres and are happy to consider foreign language and/or bilingual scripts. We strongly encourage submissions from female, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ writers as well as writers with disabilities.
Please review the following criteria thoroughly before sending your submission:
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Ten-minute musicals will be accepted from July 1st, 2025 - December 1st, 2025 at midnight.
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Submissions will not be considered before July 1st or after the deadline.
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Musical theatre writers can submit no more than two scripts during the current submission period.
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The story must have a beginning, middle, and end.
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We accept submissions in foreign languages or that are bilingual. Although the application process is in English, the work itself may be submitted and performed in any other language if selected.
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Each piece must include music.
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All submissions must be submitted via this website. No physical copies.
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Each musical must not exceed ten minutes when performed. If accepted, cuts may be required.
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Longer one-acts or full-length musicals will not be considered, although the submission may be a 10-minute portion of a longer piece as long as it tells a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end story arc.
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A musical may be a previously-produced work with a production history.
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We have no formal script formatting guidelines, but all scripts should be easy to read.
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The volume of submissions prevents us from providing feedback on all submissions.
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If your piece is visual (i.e. choreography-heavy), please include video footage or detailed descriptions.
We expect to contact all writers by mid-February, 2026 on the status of their submission with one of the following emails:
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An acceptance email into the festival that will include additional information to confirm their involvement.
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A waitlist email. In the event an accepted musical declines their participation, a selected waitlisted musical will be notified to serve as a replacement.
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The remaining musicals will receive a "not selected" email and are encouraged to submit again next year.
*All criteria is subject to change*
Festival Timeline
FESTIVAL TIMELINE
Dates for SOUND BITES 13
All selected musical pieces must adhere to the following:
Sunday February 22nd, 2026, 6pm-8:30pm
1st meeting with all of the SOUND BITES authors (In person - 520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, The Bruce Mitchell Room, NYC) to go over the basic parameters of SOUND BITES, answer any questions, and to confirm participation.
February 23rd through March 31st, 2026
Finding Your Creative Team: All Creative Teams for each musical must be submitted for review on the Participant’s Hub by Tuesday, March 31st.
Sunday March 22nd, 2026, 6pm-8:30pm
2nd Meeting (In person - 520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, The Bruce Mitchell Room, NYC) All SOUND BITES authors and any participants they have so far to go over requirements and deadlines.
Tuesday March 31st, 2026
DEADLINE for Directors, Choreographers, Music Directors and Stage Managers.
Sunday April 12th, 2026, 6pm-8:30pm
3rd Meeting (In person - 520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, The Bruce Mitchell Room, NYC) All SOUND BITES Authors & Directors for Production Meeting.
Monday April 6th, 2026
DEADLINE for all casting.
Monday April 20th through Friday May 1st, 2026
Rehearsal space provided and scheduled based on availability
Sometime between April 13th and 17th, 2026 TBA
Walk-thru of the theatre (Merkin Hall) 11am-12pm - All authors and directors
Friday April 17th, 2026
DEADLINE Final Program Submission
Saturday May 2nd, 2026, 9am-7pm
Run-thru of all 10 shows
Sunday May 3rd, 2026, 7pm-10pm
Work-light dress rehearsal run-thru on stage at Merkin Hall
Monday, May 4th, 2026
Tech 9am-6pm (each show will have a designated time slot during the day)
7pm-9:30pm Performance - SOUND BITES 13
9:30pm-10:30pm Load Out
Saturday May 9th or Saturday May 16th, 2026
Post-Mortem meetings TBD
1-Hour meetings scheduled with each team
* All dates and times are subject to change.*
Tech. Specifications
Each musical is to be staged & performed off-book. The show's material should be the focus in telling the story.
Set and Props
Theatre Now will provide traditional black boxes in various sizes, chairs, stools, and tables in a few different sizes and shapes. If you need additional items, that is up to your team, but please keep it to a minimum to keep the focus on the writing. Your team will be responsible for their own props and any additional set pieces as long as they can be set up and removed quickly during transitions.
Lighting
There will be general color washes with the capability to be isolated in areas as well as the use of a limited number of specials.
Costumes
Each team is responsible for providing their own costumes.
Sound Cues
Writers/Directors are responsible for providing their own sound cues with our assistance.
Writers are responsible for finding their Creative Team & Actors, but Theatre Now has an in-house casting director who can assist you. As SOUND BITES is a festival for the betterment of writers and their work, we do not allow writers to perform in or direct their own piece. We have found that writers in the past have benefitted the most from participating solely as writers.
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Music Director: Most composers choose to music direct their own pieces. A composer may do so, or we can help you find one if needed.
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Actors: Actors can be Union, non-Union, or a combination of both. We can help with casting through our in-house casting director. We’ve found that many actors will be eager to work on a new piece. Past SOUND BITES Festivals have even included actors currently in Broadway shows. You will need to work around their schedules, however.
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Choreographer: This position is not required and is at your discretion if you choose to work with one.
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Musicians: Each creative team is responsible for providing their own musicians at their discretion pending their show’s needs.
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Stage Manager: We highly encourage each musical to provide a stage manager who will be available to attend rehearsals and work as crew/backstage during the performance.
Additional Resources
Casting & Creatives
Theatre Now bridges the gap between early readings and fully-produced theatrical runs by offering staged and performed developmental productions to pieces that are ready to live on their feet. We strive for continuity and growth in our production process by collaborating with artists. Below is how we do that.
We provide one of the largest venues available for a New York City theatre festival. At 449 seats, Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center is the perfect Off-Broadway venue to showcase your work.
Rehearsal Reimbursements
From the funding Theatre Now receives through grants, free or partial reimbursement may be provided for rehearsal space for each musical.
Artist Honorariums
Theatre Now will provide honorariums for participating artists (actors, director, choreographer and musical director) in every musical, based on available funding.
Work through Rehearsal with Producers
The weekend before the festival, individual work-through rehearsals will be held with the SOUND BITES producers to present pieces and receive creative feedback.
Dress Rehearsal
Community is important to us; therefore, we have a final open dress rehearsal for all SOUND BITES participants to attend and watch each other's pieces. This also gives actors the opportunity to run their show in front of an audience before the performance.
Post-Show Wrap-up
Growth is a core value of ours. After the festival is over, we meet with each writing team to reflect on the process in an effort to improve the festival each year and to learn about the other projects writers may be working on post-SOUND BITES.
Our Industry Sponsors
We love our sponsors! Our sponsors and funders have included Disney Theatrical Productions, Music Theatre International (MTI), NYC Cultural Affairs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Alliance of Musical Theatre (NAMT).