CPT is dedicated to producing bold, adventurous, new work. We champion creators of new performance-devising ensembles, directors, playwrights, choreographers, performance artists, etc. Though we seek projects from national and international artists, we also make a special investment in local creators.

How to get your project considered for full production by CPT:

• If you are a playwright who has a prior relationship with CPT, please send an email to rbobgan@cptonline.org with a summary of the play and a short paragraph on “why it fits with CPT.”

• If you are a theatre artist who has a relationship to CPT and you want to pitch someone else’s work we are very open to that. please send an email to rbobgan@cptonline.org with a summary of the play and a short paragraph on “why it fits with CPT.”

• If you are a local playwright and have seen recent shows at CPT and understand our programming agenda please send an email with a summary of the play and a short paragraph on “why it fits with CPT.” The best way for local playwrights to get their work fully produced at CPT is to participate in one of our play development opportunities. This is not required but that is how is happens the most. (LINK TO TF, OD, and DR)
• If neither of the above apply to you, then please encourage an artistic director or other staff member of a theatre that is invested in your work to introduce us and share a sentence about why your work is a good fit for CPT’s focused programming values.

A note from Executive Artistic Director on changes to CPT process.  

This is all a work in progress. We want to produce the most innovative and compelling  plays that align with our mission and programming. There is no right way and we continue to adapt and evolve our processes. We know that the most important elements of new play development are relationships, trust, and the artistic spirit. Art is an experiment.

For more than 20 years, CPT had an open submission policy. After great consideration and an honest assessment of our work, we have now changed this process. I want to share some of the factors that went into that decision.

Over this time of open submission, no play has been selected for production from that process. I feel it is disingenuous to maintain a process that takes up time from theatre creators and staff when it is not effective.

A majority of the work at CPT is outside the mainstream theatre and is created by artists who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color. A majority of the submissions do not align with our programming and processing them takes time away from the artists we are supporting.

CPT does not have dedicated funding sources for the intense work of handling submissions. As we work through the field-wide reckoning to make artistic jobs more sustainable and balanced, we have learned that much of the intensive process of handling submissions happened outside of normal working hours.

Meanwhile, artists are asking more and more from staff. The level of basic communications and attention to the process required to produce new work has increased. We feel it’s best to deploy staff resources to our readings, workshops, and full productions.

I also recognize that any amount of open or closing of submissions will not prevent theatre-makers from reaching out to pitch their projects. Though I don’t commit to reading or responding to such emails, I will reply if the playwright really gets what we do, their project really seems to align with our work, and if we have openings in our upcoming seasons.

We recognize that CPT is a leader in producing new work. My career spans more than 25 years and I have fully produced over 75 world premieres. I continue to struggle to balance resources and make great impact on the communities we serve, and I am open to new ideas about how to do make it all work best for artists and the many other communities we serve..

A Little Advice

The best way I have found for playwrights to get their work produced is to connect first with a play development program designed and funded to be open—like Playwrights Foundation or Playwrights’ Center—or to connect with their local theatres. Leaders from these organizations often function as advocates for playwrights and projects. They know their peer organizations best.

For a theatres of CPT’s scale, every play loses money. We do it for the art. So, it is all about relationships. Playwrights who really just want the resources, just want a production, are not the best fit for a CPT kind of theatre. We want to work with artists who desire a reciprocal relationship. We may admire your work but if you don’t admire our work as producers of new plays, then it will likely be a challenging relationship that is not balanced. We also recognize that this relationship takes time and we focus on consent culture where both parties need to have agency.