EAST WEST PLAYERS invites proposals for a new play commission, with a world premiere production in Summer 2028, to coincide with the 2028 Summer Olympics hosted in our home city of Los Angeles.

Intro

This open call commission, one of the first of its kind for EWP, will see one playwright commissioned for a new play that will be developed and premiered in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. This opportunity is open to playwrights at all stages of their practice!

Link to Full Open Call

Selection Process

  • To celebrate the Olympics taking place in our backyard, this commission will be themed around Asian American narratives in sports. For the purposes of this commission, our definition of Asian American is inclusive of communities who identify as East, South, Southeast, and West Asian; Pacific Islander, and Native Hawai’ian (AAPINH).

    Similar to Asian American visibility in the performing arts, in the “theater” of sports we see a small number of extraordinary individuals achieve mainstream popularity (and/or controversy) while the community remains underrepresented within the field at large. As of 2024, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports reported that Asian American athletes make up 1.4% of the WNBA, 1.3% of major league soccer, and 0.4% of the NFL. Asian American athletes, like artists, often bear the burden of representation when it comes to subverting or following stereotypes. However, many Asian American communities have a rich history and relationship with athletic activities, both competitive and recreational, contemporary and cultural, hyperlocal to national.

    This commission seeks to uplift a diversity of narratives around Asian Americans in sports, while inspiring playwrights to explore theatrical subject and form. Proposals for plays are not required to center around Olympic sports or professional athletes, so long as sport is central to the core of the play in a meaningful way.

    • The proposal should encompass a play that can be envisioned as a full-length evening of theatre.

    • The proposed play should require no more than 5 performers on stage.

    • The proposed play should center the AANIPH experience and sports in a meaningful and identifiable way.

    • East West Players exists to elevate Asian and Asian American artists and stories in the American theatre, and spark conversation about the many layers of the AAPINH experience through our programming. For this commission, playwrights are encouraged to imagine beyond what narratives, themes, and sensibilities are most common in the mainstream American theatre, and to write under the default assumption that you will be understood by your audience.

  • You may propose your play in whatever format you wish, so long as it does not exceed 1-2 pages. Some information you may wish to include in your proposal to give us the best sense of your vision:

    • Basic form and structure of the play

    • Information about the characters and sport featured

    • Major events, actions, or general dramatic arc of the play

    • Themes or dramatic questions within the play

    • Theatrical tools or languages you are excited to explore

    • Any sparks or impulses for scenes or moments that you envision

    • Your relationship to the characters and/or sport you are interested in writing about

    • The application is open to all applicants who have a relationship with East West Players, the greater Los Angeles area, and/or the AAPINH experience.

    • Applicants must be at least 18 years old.

    • Applicants at all levels of their practice are invited to submit a proposal.

    • Applicants must be eligible to work and be paid in California.

    • Applicants are invited to submit multilingual work, but please provide English-language translations for our evaluation panel as needed.

Selection Process

    • Applicants will submit a brief application consisting of brief questions, a one-page pitch, resume, and full-length work sample. No artistic statement will be required.

    • Applicants may also already have completed plays that fit the theme, in which case they must indicate this in their application but are welcome to submit a different play as their work sample if they wish. If submitting an already-written script that fits the theme, the play should be unproduced and without meaningful development.

    • The full-length work sample should reflect the playwright’s best work. It can be a produced or published work, if desired.

    • Applications will be evaluated by a panel consisting of EWP staff and artists, and individuals from across the country who engage meaningfully with the Asian American theatre community.

    • We expect around 10 finalists to be selected for the next round.

    • All finalists will be commissioned $500 per proposal to write the first 15-25 pages of the play they’ve pitched. If a finalist has pitched a play they have already written, they are welcome to take this time to revise 15-25 pages for consideration.

    • Finalists may also be invited to meet virtually with the evaluation committee; these meetings will take place no later than March 10, 2026.

    • One $10,000 commission will be awarded from the pool of finalists. The commission awardee and all finalists will be named publicly in spring 2026. Collaborators and organizations interested in the plays that are generated through this open call process will be encouraged to connect with finalists directly to explore further development.

    • February 10, 2026 - Commission application opens

    • March 2, 2026 - Applications close, First round deliberation begins

    • March 20, 2026 - All finalists notified and begin writing sample pages

    • April 21, 2026 - All samples submitted, Second round deliberations begin

    • May 1, 2026 - Commission winner and finalists announced

    • Winter 2027 - Workshop #1

    • Winter 2028 - Workshop #2

    • Summer 2028 - World premiere

Compensation & Development Support

  • The award will include $10,000 for the generation of the chosen play, to be paid out in installments at each phase of development as outlined below. EWP will also provide dramaturgical support (both from within and outside the organization) and regular check-ins with the playwright as they complete their first draft, throughout the development process, and in production.

    • $2,500 upon the mutual signing of the contract

    • $2,500 upon delivery of first draft

    • $2,500 after Workshop #2

    • $2,500 on opening night

    The playwright will additionally be compensated for their participation in each developmental phase, as well as furnished with travel and room/board for workshops and the world premiere if they are based outside of the greater Los Angeles area. The commissioned playwright will be supported by EWP’s artistic team, including a first developmental workshop and public presentation in the inaugural New Works Festival in winter 2027. Following this, the play will receive another workshop in early winter 2028 before premiering in concurrence with the Olympics in summer 2028.

Submission Instructions

Proposals can be submitted through THIS FORM beginning February 10, 2025. Applications will close at 5:00PM Pacific Time on March 2, 2026. No late applications will be accepted.


Additional questions can be directed to Associate Artistic Director Annie Jin Wang at awang@eastwestplayers.org. Please include [EWP OPEN CALL COMMISSION] in your email subject line.

FAQs

  • Yes! However, the commission requirements remain the same for plays and musicals.

  • Each playwright may submit one proposal.

  • Yes, but please note that the commission is for the creation of one play, not per artist.

  • Yes, but you must have or be able to secure the rights to the source material.

  • For this commission, we are seeking to develop a new text-based play by a lead generative artist. That being said, we welcome the inclusion of dance, movement, music, and other theatrical forms as a component of the work. If you are interested in devising or experimental work, please feel free to let us know in your application, as we are always interested in learning more about our community’s artistic needs and explorations.

  • If you have prior knowledge of East West Players’ producing spaces, please do not assume that the commissioned play must be produced in one of those spaces. We invite you to create a proposal for a play that fits your imagination. We welcome proposals for site-specific work in Los Angeles.

  • No, this commission opportunity is open to theatre artists at all stages of their practice. If this is our first introduction to your artistry, we’re excited to meet you! We only ask for a full-length writing sample so that we can get a better sense of who you are as a writer, and to demonstrate confidence in your ability to complete the commission.

  • No, so long as the proposal fits the theme of Asian Americans and Sports.

  • No, please refer to the Eligibility section for more information.

  • We are primarily interested in using these pages to best understand your vision and how your ideas may translate onto the page, so a first or rough draft is perfectly valid and welcome. The pages do not need to be the first 15-25 pages of the play, and they do not necessarily need to be consecutive pages. We do ask, however, that you take the time to make sure that your pages accurately reflect your artistry as you wish for us to experience it.

  • Yes, you retain all rights to your work.