How To Playwright | Audrey Cefaly | Substack

Submit: National Playwrights Conference, App Window: 9/2-9/18, 2025

READ THE LATEST

Most Popular

How to Write the 10-Minute Play

Feb 8, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

My Top 10 Playwriting Hacks

Apr 25, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

52 Vocabulary Words for Playwrights

Sep 6, 2022 • Audrey Cefaly

The Yale Drama Series Competition - Deadline August 15, 2025

Jun 7, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Articles on Playwriting

Art and the Apocalypse (Again)

Moving through Dangerous Times with Heart and Hope

Oct 28, 2025 • Jacqueline Goldfinger

Choosing To Write The World You See

Playwriting as self-care, rebellion, and truth-telling.

Sep 8, 2025 • Michelle Tyrene Johnson

If These Goats Could Talk

The Scene That Changed Everything

Jun 26, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Not Just Dialogue

The Secret Sound Structure of Great Plays

Jun 18, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Your Plot Is Not the Point

Why Silence Moves the Play

Jun 12, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Playwriting the Pressure: How Atmosphere Shapes Dramatic Action

On barometric shifts, emotional weather, and the truth between the lines

Jun 5, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

How to Layer Grief Without Sentimentality

a note for playwrights who hate cheap tears

May 27, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

The First Page is a Lie

Writing the Emotional Roadmap of Your Play

May 22, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Writing From the Middle of the Wreckage

on memoir, dissociation, and dresses that cut

May 12, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Walking With Tennessee Williams

The Craft of Holding On: Confessions of a Southern Intimist

May 6, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

My Top 10 Playwriting Hacks

Or how to get things done, like actually done.

Apr 25, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

What Makes a Stage Play Theatrical?

The real secret to leveling up your playwriting game.

Apr 18, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submission Opps

Submit: The Relentless Award, Deadline: 1/1/26

Submissions are officially open for the 2026 Relentless Award! The author(s) of the winning full-length play will be awarded $50,000.

Dec 5, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: Florida Rep Play Lab, Deadline: 12/5/25

Each year, Florida Repertory Theatre hosts the PlayLab Festival of New Works, a dynamic celebration of storytelling and theatrical innovation.

Nov 30, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: EST/Sloan New Play Commissions, Deadline: 11/5/25

New Play Commissions will be awarded to individuals, groups and creative teams for full-length plays and musicals.

Oct 23, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: Ojai Playwrights Conference & New Works Festival, Deadline 9/26/25

OPC’S APPLICATION WINDOW FOR 2026 WILL BE OPEN FROM

Sep 19, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: William Inge New Play Lab, Deadline 10/31/25 | Max: 150 Submissions

Note: the receipt of applications will be limited to the first 150 to apply.

Sep 3, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: National Playwrights Conference, App Window: 9/2-9/18, 2025

2026 NPC Submission Window is September 2 -18, 2025!

Sep 1, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: Blue Ink Award for Playwriting, Deadline 8/31/25

2026 Blue Ink Award for Playwriting - Call for Submissions

Aug 1, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Submit: Seven Devils 2025 New Play Foundry, Deadline: 8/31/25

Submission Window for the 2025 Conference is now open: August 1 to August 31, 2025.

Aug 1, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Podcast Interviews

Craft Discussion With Playwright Audrey Cefaly and Actor/Dramaturg Carolyn Messina

All topics playwriting with Dennis Hensley

Mar 20, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Craft Discussion With Playwright Audrey Cefaly

All topics playwriting with Producer/Actor/Director James Elden of Playwright's Spotlight

Mar 4, 2025 • Audrey Cefaly

Podcast (Audio): | Audrey Cefaly Discusses Playwriting with Jaime Alejandro

A craft discussion with Arts Calling producer Jaime Alejandro and playwright Audrey Cefaly to discuss craft and her play THE LAST WIDE OPEN on stage now…

Aug 2, 2024 • Audrey Cefaly

Death is a New Way to Love - Audrey Cefaly Craft Discussion with Emily Sutton-Smith (Podcast - Audio)

Audrey Cefaly in conversation with Williamston Theatre co-founder Emily Sutton-Smith

Jan 17, 2024 • Audrey Cefaly

Podcast (Audio): Audrey Cefaly Craft Discussion: BEHIND THE BUZZ

Audrey Cefaly in conversation with Joe Kucan and Ann-Marie Pereth of A Public Fit Theatre Company

Jun 15, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

Podcast (Audio): Audrey Cefaly & Carolyn Messina | Find your dramaturg, two-hander plays, and ache stories: ARTS CALLING

Arts Calling producer Jaime Alejandro sits down with Audrey Cefaly and Carolyn Messina to discuss playwriting and dramaturgy

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

Podcast (Video): Audrey Cefaly Talks Playwriting and Dramaturgy with Carolyn Messina and Johannah Edwards

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

Purchase Plays by Audrey Cefaly

TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD (8-30 ACTORS)

LARGE CAST PLAY

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

THE LAST WIDE OPEN (1M1F)

A LOVE SONG IN 3 MOVEMENTS (A PLAY WITH MUSIC)

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

SHORT PLAY COLLECTION: LOVE IS A BLUE TICK HOUND

Love Is A Blue Tick Hound is a collection of four one-acts (written by Audrey Cefaly) , three of which have received New York premieres, and all of…

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

ALABASTER (4F) SOUTHERN DRAMA (WITH GOATS)

Winner of the The David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize and the NNPN Goldman Prize

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

MAYTAG VIRGIN (1M1F) SOUTHERN DRAMA

A classic love story by southern regionalist Audrey Cefaly.

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

THE GULF (2F) LGBTQ DRAMA (WINNER OF THE LAMMY)

Lammy Award-Winning Southern Drama.

Jan 7, 2023 • Audrey Cefaly

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts