Our Mission
As part of an ongoing commitment to create a diverse body of work, Words Cubed, the new play program at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, nurtures and develops openly-submitted and commissioned-based new plays by providing a professional platform for readings, workshops, and fully realized productions.
Words Cubed 2027 Submission Information
Opens September 4, 2026
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Unproduced scripts ready for development. We are not looking for the ‘best’ play submitted, rather a great one that will benefit from our process.
We love big epic casts, but we’ve found the streamlined development process is best suited to smaller cast shows (6 actors or less). We are open to Shakespeare-adjacent works, however, we are interested in all genres. If you are submitting a Shakespeare-adjacent work, it must be able to stand on its own for audiences that don’t know the original.
Part of our selection process is how the two selected plays complement one another and the season of which they are a part (in this case, the 2027 season). Additionally, a play that is similar in theme or plot to recent Words Cubed selections is less likely to be chosen.
WHAT WILL WORDS CUBED DO FOR YOU?
Words Cubed and the Utah Shakespeare Festival will provide travel to Cedar City, Utah and offer a stipend, lodging, and tickets to our currently running shows. We will provide you with a cast, director, and stage manager, four days of concentrated script work (12 hours total), and four public readings with audience feedback.
WHAT WILL THE READING LOOK LIKE?
Words Cubed readings are simple in scope. This choice is both artistic, as the goal is to focus on the story and allow the playwright to hear it in front of an audience, and practical, as there is limited rehearsal time. We encourage teams to utilize stage directions to paint the fuller picture for the audience. These are “music stand readings”, so lines are not memorized. There are no design elements.
FINE PRINT
No fees. The only thing we require is a signed contract with the following agreement: After your play leaves our process, any subsequent production or workshop will contain the following language: “PLAY TITLE was developed, in part, through Words Cubed, Utah Shakespeare Festival’s new play development program.”
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
Thank you for your interest in submitting a play to Words Cubed. Our submission process for 2027 opens September 4, 2026 and continues until we’ve received 200 submissions, which generally happens very quickly. You will be notified by July 1, 2027, whether or not your play was selected. To have your script considered for Words Cubed, please submit at the following link:
Submission LinkFAQ
- You may only submit one play per year.
- If a script was submitted to Words Cubed in the past, it cannot be re-submitted.
- We only accept unproduced plays.
- Straight plays only, please. Words Cubed is not designed to support a sufficient development process for musicals.
- We only accept updated script drafts if your play makes it to the finalist pool. We will notify you if you become a finalist.
- The two selected playwrights must be available for the Cedar City in-person workshop during the week of August 2 or 9, 2027.
If you have additional questions, please reach out to words3@bard.org.