Theater for the New City

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY’s

Dream Up Festival 2025

In 2010, the inaugural Dream Up Festival offered 25 shows consisting of 23 World Premieres and 2 American Premieres. The festival had reviewers from NY Times, NY Press, Show business Weekly, the Advocate, NYTheatre.com and others.

Festival performance dates: August 24 – September 14, 2025.
All performances will take place at Theater for the New City.

NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

We prefer works that have gone unproduced in New York City, but we will consider an updated version of previously produced NYC production. To qualify for the festival, our goal is works by US and international artists as World or NYC premieres. Translations and new adaptations of known material will be acceptable.

The festival is available to both performance groups and individuals. Plays, dance theater, solo works and interdisciplinary material will all be welcome so long as they can co-exist in repertory with other productions in the festival lineup. Technical requirements and use of production effects will need to be limited. Scenic elements are welcome but one or more of these elements will have to be used in an inventive way.

ABOUT DREAM UP – TNC’s Summer Showcase

The motto of the festival is “Dream Up: Invent, Concoct.” The festival is dedicated to new works. The question of the artist’s vision to free or attack the material will be asked in each application. The festival does not want traditional theater which is presented in a traditional way. Theater for the New City wants to use this festival as a way to push ideas to the forefront with the hope of revealing roads less traveled or undiscovered. Presentation of a straightforward play must be imaginative in some way.

FESTIVAL GUIDELINES

TNC’s 2025 summer festival known as Dream Up Festival will run August 24 to September 14, 2025.

We are accepting applications:  February 26, 2025 to May 26, 2025.

Early Bird Submissions: February 26 to April 3 $50. General Submissions: April 4 to May 26 $60 certified check, cashier’s check, or money order in US Dollars payable to: Theater for the New City

All applications must be accompanied with a submission fee.

*We prefer the application materials to be emailed to tncdreamup@gmail.com and the submission fees be paid online at Dream Up Festival Call for Plays

Snail option is mailed to:
TNC’s Dream Up Festival 2025
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue New York, NY 10003

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING WITH EVERY SUBMISSION:
• Script/or Concept (if not text based)
• Bio Primary Artist (and Collaborators if known)/ Production History
• Brief Statement
• Synopsis of Work w/character breakdown
• Submission Form
+Submission Fee

REVIEW NOTIFICATION:
All applicants will receive a position notice (accepted, wait listed, or not accepted) after their submissions are evaluated in spring 2025.

PLEASE SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS (scripts, bios, statements, synopsis, submission form) TO:  tncdreamup@gmail.com

Any mailed submission materials submitted to the festival will NOT BE RETURNED. Sorry.

TWO WAYS TO PAY SUBMISSION FEE:

Pay online https://theaterforthenewcity.net/donations/dream-up-festival/

Or

MAIL SUBMISSION FEE SEPARATELY TO:
TNC’s Dream Up Festival 2025
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Please mark your submission fee subject line with the name of your festival project.
Please contact us at literary@theaterforthenewcity.net if there are any questions and check out our website at Dreamup Festival Website 

DREAM UP FESTIVAL FORM
Title of Submission: _____________________________
Contact Name: __________________________
Phone: _________________________________
Mailing Address:
Street: ______________________ City:______________ State:______
Zip:_______ Country
(if outside the US) :______________
Email Addresses: ___________________________________
Genre of Work (Please Mark): Dance Musical Drama
Length (Please Mark): Short One Act Full Length
Estimated Running Time in Minutes: ___________
Number of Cast / Crew: _________________________
Technical Requirements (for set, lighting, sound if known):

This piece previously had a (Please Mark):  Reading, Staged Reading, Workshop, Full Production (please tell us when and where)

Please express in a short statement (500 words max.) what makes this
inventive or what will make it inventive when presented.

Please Note: Submissions without a statement will not be considered.

Participation Info:
Theater for the New City will present a lineup of wide-ranging and original theatrical visions embracing drama, poetry, music, and dance in the summer of 2025 from performing artists representing theater and performance companies in our theater complex in downtown New York.

Tickets prices can range from $15 to $20. Special Engagement ticket price may vary.

TNC’s Dream Up Festival 2025 website and festival website will go under construction in late spring/early summer 2025.
Festival artists receive 60% of their box office proceeds.  TNC retains the remaining 40%.

• All judged applicants will receive a position notice (accepted, wait listed, or not accepted) after their submissions are read.
• Acceptances will be emailed on or about June 9, 2025.
• Artists who are accepted will be required to submit participation documents by about June 23, 2025.
• A non-refundable $950 participation fee will be required, in the form of a certified check, cashier’s check or money order or online payment for participating productions. No personal or company checks will be accepted.

Final Deadline to apply is May 26. US and International artists are welcome to apply.
For general inquiries: please contact us at literary@theaterforthenewcity.net

There will be dances, stories and traditional music from Native Peoples of the Northeast, Southwest and Great Plains regions. The event has become a treasured New York tradition for celebrating our diversity by honoring the culture of our first Americans. TNC donates all proceeds from the event to college scholarship funds for Native American students!

Read More

Press contact for Strindberg Rep:  Jonathan Slaff, 212-924-0496 or js@jsnyc.com

Press contact for Axial Theater: Dan DeMello, 917-981-0344 or danielwdemello@gmail.com

Theater for the New City presents a remount of “Orson’s Shadow” by Austin Pendleton, directed by Mr. Pendleton and David Schweizer, November 8 to December 1.

Axial Theatre, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, and Strindberg Rep collaborate with Fortify.space and Michael Howard Studios to bring back highly acclaimed production from March, 2024.

The play, set in 1960s London, explores the complex dynamics between legendary figures Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, and Vivien Leigh as they clash during a theater production. It delves into egos, insecurities, and the pursuit of artistic brilliance, revealing tumultuous backstage drama.

Orson’s Shadow (Nov 2024)

NEW YORK, October 15 — To share a hit show of its Spring season with the largest possible audience, Theater for the New City (TNC), Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, will remount its production of “Orson’s Shadow,” written by Austin Pendleton and directed by Mr. Pendleton and his longtime close friend and colleague David Schweizer, from November 8 to December 1. The reprise is a production of Axial Theatre, Oberon Theatre Ensemble and Strindberg Rep in association with Fortify.space and Michael Howard Studios. 

Originally mounted as an Equity showcase last March by TNC in association with Oberon Theatre Ensemble and Strindberg Rep, it was the first time Mr. Pendleton had ever directed his own work. TNC encourages authors to direct their own plays because it ensures that their philosophy and values are kept intact. The theater is a playground for emerging writers in which they can express divergent views, sometimes unique to themselves, because later productions will allow the director’s view to influence the work.

Reviewers praised TNC’s original OOB mounting March 14 to 31, 2024, as beautifully cast and acted, contemporary, entertaining and insightful.  David Soloway, writing in Encore Theatre Reviews, quipped “The play, although it’s called ‘Orson’s Shadow,’ … is really Austin’s Shadow, as Austin Pendleton, so central to theater for so many years, casts his shadow on the stage as a writer.” Soloway deemed the play “the best kind of drama and comedy, one rooted in character, not simply situation with a plot blending reality and speculation.”

Opening Event October 2nd, 2024 at 5 PM

Our after school spring semester begins September 30th. The Offer is only for children from the East Village and the Lower East Side neighborhoods.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY RECEIVES $24,999 QUALITY OF LIFE GRANT FROM THE CHRISTOPHER & DANA REEVE FOUNDATION FOR RENOVATION OF ITS FRONT DOORS

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 22, 2024 – THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY is proud to announce that it has been awarded $24,999 as part of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation National Paralysis Resource Center (NPRC) 2023 Direct Effect 2^nd Cycle Quality of Life grants. Fifty-nine grants totaling $1,271,125 were awarded. The Quality of Life Grants Program supports nonprofit organizations that empower individuals living with paralysis. Since the Quality of Life Grants Program’s inception, more than 3,770 grants totaling $43 million have been awarded. Funding for this program was made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living (ACL grant #90PRRC0006-03-01).

The Reeve Foundation’s National Paralysis Resource Center has several grants under the Quality of Life program awarding grants in different category areas, varying in different amounts.

The Direct Effect grants program funds organizations to support a wide range of projects and activities that will impact individuals living with paralysis and their families.

“These awards are about restoring independence to our constituents,” said Dan McNeal, Director of, the Quality of Life Grants Program, Reeve Foundation. “Our work and number one goal are to enhance the quality of life of people living with paralysis. It is our honor to continue to collaborate with so many dedicated organizations, which have selflessly given their time and efforts to ensure that accessibility and inclusivity remain embedded in the fabric of their programs.”

Theater for the New City will use the grant for the renovation of the front doors to its space, including making them more accessible to theatergoers with paralysis and those in wheelchairs.

Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director of Theater for the New City, says: “It is both an honor and a moral support to receive a grant towards the funding of our accessible front doors, to the Theater for the new city. This project, which is funded, initially, by the Reeve Foundation, is an inspiration for further funding to complete its operation. The Reeve Foundation’s stamp of approval, augments the funding of all other grants received by Theater for the New City to complete the renovation of the front of TNC’s theater, with doors that make accessible, the charming, delightful and truly relevant theater projects taking place inside our theater. Theater for the New City, which has always welcomed wheelchair accessibility, will now be able to actually provide it. In this way, it will enlarge our audience and contribute to the ease and comfort of our Patrons.”

About the Reeve Foundation:

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for individuals and families impacted by paralysis. By uniting the brightest minds in the field, we are working tirelessly to accelerate scientific discoveries across the field of spinal cord research by investing in labs across the globe. Additionally, through a cooperative agreement with the Administration for Community Living, the Reeve Foundation’s National Paralysis Resource Center (NPRC) promotes the health, well-being, and independence of people living with paralysis, providing comprehensive information, resources, and referral services assisting over 100,000 individuals and families since its launch in 2002. The Reeve Foundation is committed to elevating our community’s voices and needs to achieve greater representation and independence. We meet all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability and hold the BBB’s Charity Seal.  For more information, please visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.

About Theater for the New City:

Theater for the New City was founded in 1970 by Crystal Field, George Bartenieff, Larry Kornfeld and Theo Barnes.Now in its 54^th year, Theater for The New City is dedicated to producing established and emerging playwrights and to presenting the work of small developmental theater companies, all of whom experiment with new forms; and to expand theater accessibility and enhance the cultural dialogue though our Community Programs. Our core values guide us to:

• Embody the vision of a center for innovative theater arts that is truly accessible to the community and its artists.
• Discover relevant new writing and to nurture new playwrights.
• Facilitate a bridge between playwright, experimental theater artist, and community.
• Create spaces where new vision can breathe and be nourished by a working process not subject to commercial constraints.
• Design systems which bring theater into the community and bring the community into the theater.
• Engage underserved youth in theater arts in order to focus their energies on creativity and empowerment.

http://theaterforthenewcity.net

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Contact
Theater for the New City
Jonathan Weber
212-254-1109
jon@theaterforthenewcity.net
 
Reeve Foundation
Julia Leonard
973-933-7222 
media@reeve.org