InterAct's mission is to produce new and contemporary plays that explore political, social, and cultural issues of our time, and to use theatre as a tool to explore difficult questions about the world we live in. For more details see the mission statement and history of produced plays elsewhere on this site.
All of our main stage work has political content on the surface of the drama. We try to define political in the broadest possible ways, and we tend to like highly theatrical plays. One good example is Israel Horovitz' LEBENSRAUM which we produced during the 1999/2000 season. LEBENSRAUM is a play about a future German Chancellor who invites 6 million Jews back to Germany. It has roughly 70 characters played by 3 actors. During the 2000/2001 season, we produced Russell Lees' NIXON'S NIXON which imagines, in a highly theatrical way, the meeting between Kissinger and Nixon on the night of Nixon's resignation from the presidency. The two characters play-act half a dozen other characters of national and international renown. DRINK ME, a play by Mary Fengar Gail, in our 2000 season, created a richly imaginative world of modern day witches who set out to slaughter all of the men in London as retribution for the sexual abuse of the woman who had imagined them into existence in her childhood. From our 2000/2001 season, IT'S ALL TRUE, by Jason Sherman, tells of the consequences of staging of Mark Blitzstein's THE CRADLE WILL ROCK in the context of political and artistic upheaval that roiled the country in the late 1930's. While each of these plays have distinctly political themes, we do not seek work which merely peddles a single point of view. We do not seek work which offers pat answers. We are not interested in kitchen sink family dramas, dysfunctional relationship dramas (gay or straight), zany caper comedies, yuppie angst dramas, conventional musicals, and bills of related one-act plays. We seek work which asks disturbing and provocative questions about life in our times and the world we live in. We only consider full length plays.
Though all of our plays tie in to contemporary political, social, and cultural issues, this does not necessarily require that they take place in the present day. NIXON’S NIXON and IT’S ALL TRUE, to give two examples, both take place in different eras. The key is that each of them has themes that resonate strongly with certain elements of the political climate today. Our recent production of Thomas Gibbons’ A HOUSE WITH NO WALLS is another example, taking place both in the present and in the 1790’s, showing in one era the struggle of one of George Washington’s slaves with the decision to flee for her freedom, and in the other the political and racial questions involved with building a proper memorial to Washington’s slaves on the site where their house once stood. Plays taking place in other eras will be considered if it is judged that they may contain some strong parallel to the present day.
There are two ways to submit plays to us:
- You may send a query letter with a brief (one page or less) description of your play, a bio, and an excerpt from the script (maximum ten pages). If we are intrigued by your description we may request the whole play.
- However, we strongly prefer electronic queries. You may send a query via e-mail by attaching your description, bio, and excerpt to a query e-mail as Word documents. All length restrictions still apply.
As InterAct receives between 500 and 600 queries and submissions per season, we ask that you please be patient in waiting for a response from us. If we wish to read your play in its entirety, you should hear from us within three months of sending your query. Once we receive your play in its entirety, it will likely take between six and twelve months to turn the script around. Only queries that we feel are likely fits for our mission and/or an upcoming season will receive responses.
SOME TIPS FOR SUBMITTING YOUR PLAY TO INTERACT:
- DO take at least two or three paragraphs with the synopsis of the play. It is not required to submit a detailed breakdown of plot by act and by scene. Just make sure we get the general themes and major plot points. DO NOT give a one-or two sentence statement with a few buzzwords. They don’t tell us anything useful, and greatly reduce the chances of your play being solicited.
- DO include a character breakdown and BE SPECIFIC about how many actors the play requires, especially if it is not clear from the cast list. Keep in mind that InterAct rarely produces plays that require more than six actors, and any play with nine actors or more is very unlikely to be asked for.
- DO NOT submit a roster of ten to twenty plays and ask if we may be interested in reading one of them. These inquiries will not be responded to. Take the time to study our mission and select one play to inquire about at a time.
- DO NOT submit a full script without first submitting an query, unless you are a literary agent. These plays will not be read, and will not be responded to.
- DO NOT query by phone. Please query by e-mail or regular mail (see above).
- DO NOT call or email to check on the progress of your query or script once you have submitted it. You will hear from us in due time if we wish to request your whole script or, if we have requested it, when we have feedback to offer you. DO, however, feel free to let us know of the progress your script makes, and if it is chosen for development or production elsewhere.
Please note: due to changes in U.S. postal security regulations, InterAct no longer returns full scripts submitted to the company. For those submitting a play with an SASE, please submit only a simple letter envelope with standard postage.
Send all inquiries to:
Rebecca Wright , Literary Director
InterAct Theatre Company
2030 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Or email
Thank you very much, and we look forward to reading your work!
