SUBMISSION GUIDELINES​

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As part of this upcoming production, Blindspot Collective seeks new short play and musical submissions that meet the following criteria:

 

• Must be a short play or musical that is 12-15 minutes in length

• Must be set on a modern college campus in the United States (more specifically, the publicly accessible parts of a campus - not a dorm room)

• All characters must be college-aged students

• The piece should be flexible in specific institutional details (e.g., school name, mascot, geography) to allow for adaptation to the UC San Diego campus

 

In addition to the criteria above we recommend the following:

• The most successful pieces typically feature 2–5 characters (though there is no required minimum or maximum)

• A serio-comic tone is strongly encouraged; works that blend humor with emotional depth tend to resonate most in this format

• Pieces that unfold in a single continuous scene (rather than multiple locations or time jumps) are strongly preferred

• Work that could be considered PG-13 is favored, as immersive performance often heightens audience sensitivity to explicit content

• We encourage stories that engage with timely themes relevant to contemporary college life, including but not limited to identity, belonging, mental health, climate, technology, activism, economics, intimacy, ambition, burnout, and beyond

• Narratives and characters that challenge expectations or reflect experiences outside the dominant culture are especially encouraged, as we aim to capture a wide-ranging and authentic portrait of today’s student experience

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 HOW TO APPLY 

 

All applications should be submitted to submissions@blindspotcollective.org in PDF format. Please view our submission guide below to assist you. 

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To apply for this opportunity, please provide the following:

• A cover page with your name, phone number, and email address

• A complete draft of your short play or musical

• Demo or scratch recordings of any songs

 

Drafts must be submitted by Sunday, May 24th at 9pm EST. Notification of selected works will occur no earlier than August 23rd, 2026. 

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10-15 plays and musicals will be workshopped and produced as part of Freshman Fifteen. Selected writers and composers will receive an honorarium of at least $250 for plays and $500 for short musicals, and will collaborate with Blindspot Collective on final drafts. 

 

During the submission period, Blindspot Collective’s artistic staff will be available to provide feedback on initial ideas, concepts, synopses, or character outlines. While not required, we encourage writers to take advantage of this opportunity to develop work aligned with the project’s goals and to avoid overlap with other submissions. Please feel free to reach out via email with any initial materials. A panel of theatre artists and Blindspot staff will review and score all submissions as part of the selection process.

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Please note: you will not be assessed based on the quality of any song recordings. We encourage you to keep it simple. A recording of the composer singing while playing piano that was captured with a phone is absolutely acceptable. 

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