Water’s Rising
Festival of New Climate Action Plays
Gloucester Stage was built on lifting up new plays through first productions and staged readings. Since our founding, we have had an accessible play submission process for playwrights and have produced 39 world, 7 national, and 35 New England premieres with critical success. We are built on fostering new work.
The theater’s home in Gloucester has more than 62 miles of shorelines, with the building itself located in FEMA’s high-risk flood zone. What makes this location a beautiful destination contains an equally foreboding future as we see sea levels rise year after year. Our stage door looks out to Smith’s Cove along Rocky Neck, so we want to celebrate this location while creating avenues for awareness and continued conversation about our future.
Gloucester Stage is seeking full-length plays with themes concerning climate change. Coastal climate change is at the top of mind here, but we are open to all plays tackling any theme of climate action.
Unproduced plays will take priority, but fully-produced work can also be submitted. We will be giving priority to playwrights who live in New England or have a connection to the coasts of New England. At this time, we cannot accommodate plays featuring more than 6 actors. Three plays from the submitted pool will be selected by the Literary Team for the weekend of performances. Once selected, we will find a local director who shares a similar interest and aesthetic for the piece. Casting will be decided amongst the director, playwright, and GSC’s Artistic Director.
By pairing art with advocacy, we can deepen our connection to our earth’s future.
Last year we created conversations between art and climate action by pairing each reading with a climate expert, activist, and researchers in the area for a post-reading discussion. We found these conversations deeply insightful and will continue this effort moving forward. This pairing allowed the playwright to deepen their work and see how the themes impacted the local community of Gloucester as well as the global landscape.
Play Submission Form
Submissions are due Monday, January 13, 2025. You will be notified by Friday, March 7 as to whether or not your play has been chosen for a reading.
The readings will take place between Thursday, April 24 – Sunday, April 25, 2025. We would love to have the playwrights participate in the festival weekend, either virtually or in-person, so please note your availability when applying.
Gloucester Stage is committed to upholding the work of local authors and stories from under-represented communities. Learn more about our action steps on Equity Diversity and Inclusion.
“As a playwright who tries to use art to inspire change, I was impressed by Gloucester Stage Company’s commitment to using their platform to foster productive discussions about the climate crisis. They supported me through every step of the process and cultivated a nurturing environment for all of the creative talents involved in my piece. They also brought in subject matter experts to supplement the messages in my play with examples of research and advocacy. I will remember the experience as a highlight of my journey as a playwright.”
The title of this new play festival, Water’s Rising, emphasizes the urgency of climate action and discussion but also illustrates the lift a festival of this magnitude will provide to playwrights. Uplifting these stories and storytellers feeds a rich national theatre ecosystem that Gloucester Stage has contributed to since its founding.
This festival has been made possible in part by a generous donation from Peter Van Demark in honor of Dr. Kathleen Van Demark, who passionately cared for both performing arts and natural resources like the Great Marsh.
We develop plays at Gloucester Stage how boats have been historically built in Gloucester – to weather the wide ocean of theatre destinations and sail forward to critical success.
New Work Development Communities in which Gloucester Stage participates:
