i.e. the boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral

i.e. not film, TV or radio scripts, or poetry/prose

i.e. not adaptations of novels or existing plays

i.e. 60mins of playing time or over

i.e. not staged in a full production – scratches or sharings are fine

Open Submissions is one of the key ways that we engage with local playwrights.

Whilst it’s very rare for a play to be programmed directly from the Open Submissions process, it can be the beginning of a relationship that starts the journey to our stage.

As well as guaranteed written feedback for all writers who send us a script, possible outcomes might include:

• a meeting with our New Works Associate
• dramaturgical support as you redraft
• signposting to other New Works pathways (e.g. Seed Commissions or Playwrights’ Programme).

The Everyman is a home for stories of this city, and also a space to hold the conversations that are important for our communities here – whether the play is set locally or not.

Above all, we want to stage thrilling, big-hearted, bold, forward-thinking theatre that ignites the imagination and asks big questions of the here and now.

That can take many different forms, which means there’s a huge variety of things that might excite us in a play or a writer – what’s important is clarity of intent. We should be able to read your work and really get a sense of who you are as an artist, and what’s energising you.

We’re looking for playwrights who:

• create vibrant, layered characters with complex relationships and distinctive voices
• craft emotionally and intellectually stimulating narratives with a distinct outlook on the world
• demonstrate real ambition, engaging robustly with their subjects and themes, and harnessing the full theatrical potential of their form and/or genre
• write stories of or for this city, that demand to be experienced live by our communities.

If you want get a sense of the recent new work we’ve produced, many of the scripts are available to read in the Writers’ Room at the Everyman.

We aim to contact all writers by September, but will let you know if this timeline changes.

We aren’t able to offer everything to everyone, so we tailor next steps according to how closely the scripts meet our creative aims for new work at the Everyman.

If we’re interested in a particular script, that’s when we might offer time in the Writers’ Room and dramaturgy from our New Works Associate to assess its potential for programming consideration.

More often, a script may not quite be right for our in-house programme, but the writer’s voice or approach excites us and we think there may be another way of working together. In these cases, we’ll arrange a meeting, perhaps signpost other pathways (e.g. Seed Commissions or Playwrights’ Programme), and take it from there.

Of course, all our decision-making is highly subjective, and there are many plays and writers which are completely brilliant, but just not quite right for us.

Unfortunately, we generally can’t read full scripts or offer feedback outside of the Open Script Submissions window. This is just down to the capacity of the Artistic team.

However, we are always looking to establish new relationships with talented writers and theatre makers in Liverpool and the North West. So, if that’s you and you’d like to tell us about your work, please do get in touch at newworks@everymanplayhouse.com.

We currently have more interested script readers than available places on the panel, but do try to refresh our panel each year.

If you’d like to be considered for future submission windows, please email newworks@everymanplayhouse.com with your CV, and we’ll put it on file.

For Open Script Submissions, we focus on the play you’ve already written. We offer written feedback, and send a comprehensive script report to those that make it to full-read stage.

For Seed Commissions, the main thing is that you pitch us an idea for a new play, and submit one of your previous scripts just to give us an idea of your writing. We don’t give feedback on the script that gets submitted

In either case, if you send us a script that we love and want to work on with you, we’ll tell you!

Not all writers sending a play through Open Script Submissions will be eligible for Seed Commissions, or have an idea to pitch for the summer new writing slot

Equally, not all writers pitching an idea for a Seed Commission will want feedback on the script they submit as a supporting document – it may have been through several stages of development and/or been produced already.

No – we’ll read one play per writer. If we get different submissions from the same writer, we’ll ask which of them they’d prefer us to read.

If anything about the process is unclear, or you have specific questions that aren’t answered here, we run online Q&As during the Open Script Submissions window (bookable here).

Outside of the window, you may find our Creative Check-ins useful.