Emerging Artists Theatre (EAT) is seeking submissions for their Spring Spark Theatre Festival NYC. The festival is scheduled to run March 3 through March 23rd, 2024 at 312 W 36th Street, in midtown Manhattan. 

Submissions of short plays, musicals, solo performances, dance, cabaret, sketch comedy, jazz, burlesque, monologues, storytelling, and subway musicians/acts are now being accepted. If you have an artistic discipline that isn’t mentioned or is “out of the box,” please feel free to submit. 

Spark Theatre Festival NYC showcases polished works-in-progress. Many of the pieces that are showcased at the festival are being presented in front of an audience for the first time. Each participant is given the option of doing a talkback following their performance, where they may ask the audience for feedback on their work.

Artists showcase their works-in-progress, whether as a staged reading or an off-book presentation. Shows run nightly Monday through Friday at 7 pm, and Saturday and Sundays at 2 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm. If you are submitting a short piece, you will be paired with another play or dance piece to create a 60-minute show slot. Submissions must be a minimum of 5 minutes for dance pieces and monologues. Productions may not be performed 3 months prior to or a month after the Spark Theatre Festival NYC.

To submit a new work, please visit https://emergingartiststheatre.org/spark

The deadline for submissions is midnight (EST) December 2, 2024. Participants will be notified on a rolling basis starting in mid-January. There are no submission or festival fees, and participants receive a 50/50 box-office split when the required audience guarantee of 1 ticket per minute of performance is met. Past artists who have packed the house have made between $300 to $900 for 30 minutes to an hour presentation. All participants must be fully vaccinated. 

Application and submission guidelines are available at https://emergingartiststheatre.org/submissions

Spark Theatre Festival NYC (formerly known as the New Work Series) is a bi-annual three-week developmental series that provides artists of different disciplines the opportunity to present one night of a "work in progress" with audience feedback. Since its inception in 2006, successful FringeNYC, NYMF, Edinburgh Fringe, and Off-Broadway shows have been born out of this series. In the Fall of 2023, EAT produced three Off-Broadway World Premieres that were previously showcased at Spark Theatre Festival NYC including Anne Being Frank by Ron Elisha, Doris Day: My Secret Love by Paul Adams, and Sex Work/Sex Play by Caytha Jentis.

Emerging Artists Theatre provides:

• A 99-seat off-Broadway theater in the heart of Manhattan 

• After the audience guarantee of 1 ticket sold per minute of performance is met, artists receive 50% of the box office
• Professional/Equity stage manager and technical staff
• Piano and music stands
• Ticketing services
• Box office
• A projector
• Two dressing rooms
• Curated talkback (where you decide what feedback you need)
• Safe and supportive environment
• Nice, friendly staff
• Simple set pieces available (blocks, tables, chairs, small couch/bed)
• One technical rehearsal
• Rep light plot and sound system - typically shows are limited to approx 10 sound and 10 light cues for an hour-long performance

More information and the application can be found at www.emergingartiststheatre.org