(UNION, NJ) -- Premiere Stages, the professional theatre in residence at Kean University, will be accepting submissions for the 2025/2026 Liberty Live Commission, a biennial commissioning program for New Jersey playwrights in partnership with Kean's Liberty Hall Museum beginning Friday, November 1.
Now in its eighth incarnation, Liberty Live typically culminates with a professional Equity production of a new play that celebrates New Jersey history. Past winners include Talking to Westfield by E.M. Lewis (2012), At Liberty Hall by James Christy (2013/2014), My Lord, What a Night by Deborah Brevoort (2015/2016), Black Tom Island by Martin Casella (2017/2018), Robeyby Joe Sutton (2019), Certain Aspects of Conflict in the Negro Family by TyLie Shider (2021/2022) and Still by Benjamin V. Marshall (2023/2024).
Playwrights are invited to submit proposals for new plays about New Jersey history to Premiere Stages. Submissions for the Commission will be accepted on a rolling basis throughout the calendar year rather than on a deadline. Premiere Stages may also directly contact playwrights to explore potential Commission topics. All playwrights who are residents of New Jersey are eligible.
A shortlist of the submitted proposals will be selected as finalists and playwrights will be interviewed. The winning proposal will be selected by April 2025, and that playwright will be commissioned to write a play based on the submitted proposal. Upon completion of the first draft, the playwright will receive a $3,000 award. The winning play will be developed from April 2025 through October 2025 and will include three staged readings in October 2025 at Premiere Stages. Over the life of the commission cycle, Premiere Stages will work with the playwright to continue to develop the play. Upon completion, the play will also be considered for a full production at Premiere Stages in 2026.
Please visit premierestagesatkean.com/play-festival/liberty-live/ or email [email protected] for full guidelines. All entries are evaluated by a panel of theatre professionals and historians in consultation with Premiere’s Producing Artistic Director, John J. Wooten.
Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, national origins, nationalities, ancestry, religious groups, gender expression or identities, sexual orientation, political beliefs, ages, abilities and disabilities.
Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Carole Shaffer-Koros and Robert Koros and ExxonMobil Foundation, The Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Foundation, The Northfield Bank Foundation, Blue Foundry Charitable Foundation,The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, The Union County HEART Grant and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.
Created in 2004, Premiere Stages is the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University. Through its unique partnership with Kean, Premiere’s play development programs, educational initiatives, and professional development opportunities actively embrace the university's academic curriculum while expanding the scope, accessibility, and prestige of the professional programming on campus.
Kean University, New Jersey’s urban research university, is a national institution of higher education recognized for its diversity, innovation and the social mobility of its graduates. Founded in 1855 as a teachers college, Kean has evolved into a thriving research university that supports students as they persist to graduation, give back to their communities and launch successful careers. Kean’s six colleges offer more than 50 undergraduate programs, six doctoral degree programs and more than 70 options leading to master’s degrees, professional diplomas or certifications, across a full range of academic subjects. With campuses in Union, Toms River and Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Wenzhou, China, as well as Kean Online, the University provides students of all backgrounds an affordable and accessible world-class education.
