Save the Date!

The 21st New Play Festival

May 24th-30th, 2026

Want to submit your play for consideration?

How To Send Us Your Play – Great Plains Theatre Commons

What’s it all about?

Click here for the official program of the 2025 New Play Festival.

The New Play Festival was founded in 2006 by Metropolitan Community College, and continues, now that the GPTC is its own nonprofit, as a vibrant community partnership between the two organizations. The Festival takes place each spring at the Swanson Conference Center on MCC’s historic Fort Omaha Campus. (Map)

The Festival helps to develop a group of new scripts that are selected from a pool of 700-1000 submissions. During the Festival, local and national playwrights, actors, directors, dramaturgs, designers, and Omaha community members share a week of stories, workshops, readings, meals, performances and celebrations. All public festival events are free to attend.

The Annual New Play Festival includes:

Theatre workshops, luncheon panels, and daily PlayLab staged readings.
National dramaturgs work with each playwright, providing support before, during, and after the Festival.
The final production of the GPTC Commons Season is presented during Festival week, providing an example of the quality of script that emerges from GPTC’s unique process.
The Design Wing brings five emerging designers from across the country to become immersed in the play development from a visual perspective.
The Young Dramatists Fellowship Program provides local high school playwrights with access to some of the country’s top plays and playwrights.

GPTC invites and welcomes a number of distinguished and nationally known playwrights, directors and actors each year. These guest artists are in place to nurture and mentor new and emerging playwrights and Festival attendees through various workshops, PlayLab feedback sessions and seminars.