SOUND BITES Submission Information
Submissions for SOUND BITES XII are now open
thru January 3rd, 2025
SOUND BITES XII
Monday May 5, 2025 at 7pm
Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center
129 West 67th Street, NYC
General Questions
When's the deadline to submit and is there a fee to submit?
The submission deadline for SOUND BITES XII is January 3rd 2025 at midnight and there's no fee to submit!
Click here for submission guidelines.
Who chooses the musicals?
The shows are chosen by a group of diverse industry professional adjudicators 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. BIPOC writers, LGBTQ+ writers, and 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 an artist service organization and the producer of SOUND BITES, we cover the majority of your expenses and costs. We're the only short musical theatre festival that offers artists honorariums and rehearsal reimbursements for each piece. 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.
Ready to submit?
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 nearly 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 writers, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ writers.
Please review the following criteria thoroughly before sending your submission:
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Ten-minute musicals will be accepted from September 1st, 2024 - January 3rd, 2025 at midnight.
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Submissions won’t be considered before or after the deadline.
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Musical theatre writers can only submit up to two scripts.
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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, 2025 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
All selected musical pieces must adhere to the following
(Dates for SOUND BITES X!!)
Sunday February 23, 2025, 6-8:30 pm
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 26th through March 31st, 2025
Finding Your Creative Team: All Creative Teams for each musical must be submitted for review on the Participant’s Hub by Thursday April 4th.
Sunday March 23, 2025, 6-8:30 pm
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.
Friday March 28, 2025
DEADLINE for Directors, Choreographers, Music Directors and Stage Managers.
Sunday April 6, 2025, 6-8:30 pm
3rd Meeting (In person - 520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor, The Bruce Mitchell Room, NYC)
All SOUND BITES Authors & Directors for Production Meeting.
Monday April 7th, 2025
DEADLINE for all casting.
Monday April 14th through Friday May 2nd, 2025
Rehearsals scheduled on your own, typically 20-30 hours.
Sometime between April 14th and 18th, 2025
Walk-thru of the theatre (Merkin Hall) 11am-12pm - All authors and directors
Friday April 18, 2025
DEADLINE Final Program Submission
Saturday May 3, 2025, 9am-7pm
Run-thru of all 10 shows
Sunday May 4, 2025
Work-light dress rehearsal run-thru on stage at Merkin Hall
7-10pm
Monday, May 5, 2025
Tech 9am-6pm (each show will have a designated time slot during the day)
7-9:30pm Performance - SOUND BITES XII
9:30-10:30pm Load Out
Saturday May 10th or Saturday May 17th, 2025
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 recommend a writer perform in or direct their own piece. We feel it’s important that the script be able to stand on its own, and unless a writer wrote their piece as a vehicle exclusively for themselves, we feel they will benefit 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, NYC Cultural Affairs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Alliance of Musical Theatre (NAMT).