Call for Submissions (Alberta): Europa New Works Festival – Jupiter Theatre, Theater News

What is it?
The Europa New Works Festival is a collection and presentation of new Canadian works of performing arts. For artists, it’s an opportunity for playwrights and theatremakers at any point in their career to workshop and receive dramaturgical support on new works. For audiences, it’s a chance to see exciting new works-in-progress and participate in the creation process.

What are we looking for?
Jupiter Theatre is seeking bold, contemporary works that engage with or push against the genres of science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, horror, and mythology. We are looking for new pieces of performing arts that explore the ‘what ifs’ of human potential, challenge the status quo, envision a new future, offer an alternative present, and/or have something meaningful to say about the world we live in.

Jupiter Theatre creates bold original works of Canadian theatre that are visual, physical, and moving. We seek to share powerful stories that explore the human condition and challenge audiences through visceral and innovative productions.

This season, we’re expanding the submission call to include a wider range of performing arts projects. Artists need not be playwrights or writers in a traditional sense to apply. We will be accepting performing arts projects in the form of plays, screenplays, devised theatre creation, improvisation, puppetry, dance, and other forms and media as artists see fit. If you’re got something cool that you think will excite us, send it our way!

What does it offer?
Jupiter Theatre will offer the creators of the selected works funds to support creation time, organizational support for workshopping (venue, scheduling, administration, as well as feedback and guidance from a dramaturg hand-chosen to suit the stylistic and developmental needs of each project. The process will be crafted to suit each project and may include creation time, table readings, workshopping with actors, and others as appropriate.

Following the workshopping and creation time, Jupiter Theatre will facilitate a table reading, staged reading, or presentation as part of the festival to showcase the work in its current stage of development and provide the creators with the opportunity to experience their work with an audience.

The Europa New Works Festival will pay each creator/creative team $1,500.

The Europa New Works Festival aims to provide artists with the space, tools, and support to create the best possible version of their work in order to foster the creation of new Canadian theatre. We believe investing in creators encourages creativity and elevates the work of all artists. For Jupiter Theatre, this program is also a stepping-stone for new projects that have the potential to be produced with the company in future seasons.

How to Submit
Artists interested in submitting their work are asked to send:

– A one-page proposal including the title, name(s) of the creator(s), estimated running time, character breakdown, short synopsis, and a brief development history (if applicable). The proposal should also include a paragraph or two that addresses the creator’s intention with the work, creative and thematic questions it explores, and why it is a good fit for the Europa New Works Festival.
– A project outline or draft of the work. (Note: this draft may manifest as a script, a treatment, an outline, or a collection of scenes. We will also accept projects that are not text-based and encourage artists to get creative with how they present these to us!)
– A current resume or CV for the creator(s).

As part of our ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, and to promote equity and representation within our community, we strongly encourage submissions from BIPOC, LGBTQ2IA+, female-identifying, and non-binary artists.

The deadline for submissions is November 23, 2024 at 11:59pm.

If you have a new work in development but meeting the deadline or fulfilling the submission criteria is an obstacle for you for whatever reason, we encourage you to reach out to us before submitting. We will do what we can to accommodate and support you in this process.

Submissions, as well as requests for further information, can be sent to Artistic Producer Andrew G. Cooper at [email protected].

Other Information
A separate call out for other artists (performers, directors, stage managers, etc.) will be released once projects are selected for the 2025 festival. If you are not a creator but still want to be involved in the festival, hold tight!

Submissions for the Europa New Works Festival must adhere to the following guidelines:
– Submissions are open to new works and works-in-progress of any length created by permanent residents of Canada.
– The workshopping and presentation will both take place in Calgary, AB. Submissions are open to any performing artists in Canada, but the selected creators must be available and able to work in person in Calgary, AB in January 2025. No funds will be provided for travel or accommodations.
– Scripts which have been produced professionally are NOT eligible (any public performance in which production members were paid beyond an honorarium will be considered a professional production).
– Works that have been presented at workshops, readings, or produced by community or academic groups are eligible.
– Text-based works should be primarily in English. Artists seeking to submit a project that is partially in another language should contact Jupiter – Theatre before submitting to assess eligibility. Works that are mostly or entirely in a language other than English will not be accepted.
– Submissions must be sent via email with the name of the submitted project in the subject line followed by “—NEW WORKS FESTIVAL SUBMISSION”.
– All attachments must be sent as .pdf files.

Why the Name Europa?
Europa is among the first of Jupiter’s ninety-five moons to be discovered and is one of the few celestial bodies in our solar system with the potential to support life. Europa’s surface is sheeted with a thick crust of ice but harbours a vast ocean underneath with conditions that could be suitable to sustain living organisms. The Iceberg Theory, coined by Ernest Hemingway, offers an insight into the implicit deeper meaning often found below the surface of a writer’s work. Europa’s frozen exterior gives this iceberg metaphor an entirely new context.

With the Europa New Works Festival, Jupiter Theatre seeks to discover new life in the unfathomable depths of Canadian creators of the performing arts.