Selection
criteria

All creative artists aged 21 and over are welcome to submit. Priority will be given to emerging and mid-career musical theatre artists. We accept submissions from individuals and teams, but only accept one submission per person, so, if you submit a show as an individual, you may not submit another show as part of a group (please communicate with all of your writing teams, as you may be disqualified for multiple submissions).

Unproduced, full length musical theatre works are eligible. Works derived from sources other than the creative team (books, TV, movies, plays, songs) must document appropriate permissions / rights to use any materials not in the public domain. Adaptations will be accepted as long as they have been significantly reimagined in new and exciting ways, however, priority will be given to original works.

What we're looking for:
Shows that embody innovation, creativity and originality. We’re looking for engaging shows that make us think, feel, laugh, gasp, and examine our own humanity. Previous winners can be found here.

Timeline

A maximum of 20% of the total submissions (up to 50) will be selected as SEMIFINALISTS by March 1, 2025 and will be notified on a rolling basis. Semifinalists will have 72 hours from time of e-mail or phone notification to provide a full libretto (as a .pdf) and links to all musical elements to the selection committee via e-mail to: submit@pipelinearts.org

Finalists will be selected by May, 2025 and will be invited to interview with the selection committee.

Winners and respective prizes will be announced (including a results e-mail to all applicants) by June 15th, 2025.

United States citizenship is not a requirement to receive the grant, but you must be eligible to work in the U.S. and reside/work in the U.S. for a majority of any given year.

Due to reader and program constraints, we are unable to provide feedback on entries.
There is no fee to apply.

SubmIssion
Guidelines

For your show to be considered, please complete the 2 part submission process
(incomplete submissions will not be considered):

Part 1

Submit the APPLICATION FORM.

Part 2

Submit the following materials with no creative team identifying information:
Libretto Excerpt: Please submit 25- 30 pages (from one continuous section) in .pdf format.
Music Files: Please submit 5 songs that you feel best represent your show. The individual songs are not required to be contained in the submitted portion of the libretto.
Character Breakdown in .pdf format.
Synopsis – 250 words maximum in .pdf format.