Cut Edge Collective Submission Window open!
Playwrights, Application Deadline December 1, 2023
Final decisions by December 15
NO FEE TO SUBMIT
Please send a writing sample (10 pages), artist statement and resume to: cutedgecollective@gmail.com
We meet twice monthly, on the second and third Tuesdays of each month (except July and August).
On the second Tuesday of each month, we will hear the work of a single writer out loud (read by professional actors) and discuss this writer’s work. This is an in-person meeting.
On the third Tuesday of each month, we will engage (online) in a moderated philosophical discussion about where we’re at in terms of style, form, the direction of theatre/art today etc. Each accepted writer will have the chance to suggest a topic for the monthly salon, and lead the discussion. (Past discussions have included what makes a theatrical production experimental; from what/where do we draw our inspiration; censorship in theater; mysticism in theater; differences in ideas of catharsis between East and West; gender issues in written theatre roles; when is spectacle essential to theatre; repetition and play in storytelling, etc.)
PLAYWRIGHTS MAY ONLY MISS FOUR SESSIONS TOTAL (TWO EACH FROM THE WORKSHOP AND SALON). AFTER THAT, THEY WILL NOT BE ASKED TO PARTICIPATE IN 10-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL.
The Upshot
Upon invitation, the rate is $125 for the year. This covers space to meet for an entire year and a modest stipend for the actors who’ll read our words during the workshop meetings(Cut Edge will cast all readings, if desired by the playwright). Additionally, it will help defer costs for our annual 10-minute play Festival, available to all accepted writers (Cut Edge provides TD, SM, free rehearsal space options and all marketing). Lastly, the fee helps underwrite the publication of the plays in the Ten Minute, with each playwright receiving three copies of the antholofy.
(Our 2023 cohort will be presenting their 10-minute plays this February 10-12, 2024 at the Tank, 312 W. 36th Street).
The Breakdown
To participate, you must be an experimental theatre writer. What do we mean by this? You must write for live performance and you must be in the process of creating something that isn’t “conventional.” This departure from normative theatre can include dialogue, structure, staging, character and/or character development, format, passage of time or any other manner of pushing at theatrical boundaries. Teach us something.
The Cut Edge Collective currently has only a few available slots. Playwrights will be selected based upon the quality of the work submitted and experimental nature of the work.
If you’re in New York City and able to commit to two events monthly in Midtown, and write experimental work for theatre, please send a sample, segment or example and tell us why you want to be a part of the collective.
And So Who Is This For
Experimental Theatre Writers
Able to Commit to Twice Monthly Meetings, including one in-person in Midtown Manhattan, through 2024
Submit Compelling Samples
$125 for Space, Actors and Ten Minute Play Festival (early 2024). The writers retreat will occasion another $20/day fee ($100 total), which will include transportation, room and board (but not alcohol, coffee and meals out, local t-shirts and other swag, etc.)
Please reach out if you have any questions to: Cut Edge Collective: cutedgecollective@gmail.com
Cut Edge Collective
The Cut Edge Collective meets at ART-NY on 8th Avenue in the heart of midtown Manhattan to hear new work and discuss the plays. After hearing the new work, read by professional actors from our Collective of actors, we ask what people were warm about; what they might have been about, or which parts they “fell out”; then we ask rhetorical questions of the playwright (who is not invited to respond, just note down the questions) and finally, we ask the writer if he/she/they has any questions for the audience.
Then, we head into the night to find a welcoming locale to share a drink and bite, and continue the conversation.

Cut Edge actors prepare to read a new play

Cut Edge playwrights prepare to hear a new play
Cut Edge Collective 10-minute Play Festival
Every year in February, we hold a ten-minute play festival at The Tank, 312 W. 36th Street, to highlight what our writers have been thinking about and working on. We present the work over three evenings, with each playwright getting two productions of their plays.
Who We Are and What We Do
Founded by playwrights Tom Block and Kevin Kautzman in New York City in 2020, Cut Edge opens a space for non-traditional theater — theater which departs from and challenges historical conventions and contemporary aesthetics in some manner.
We are a yearly collective of experimental theatre writers in New York City, chosen from a growing number of interested writers looking for a home to work on and present their non-traditional work. Our writers create work that pushes at the boundaries of normative theater in some way.
We meet twice monthly: once in person to workshop freshly-minted plays, and once via Zoom for a salon on subjects pertaining to experimental writing for performance. Subject matter for salons has included the fungibility of time; what is “cutting edge” in an era which seems to offer no creative boundaries; mysticism in the theater; novel gender roles onstage; non-linear narrative structure; building theater without any narrative at all and many other issues of concern to the non-traditional playwright.
MEET SOME OF THE PLAYWRIGHTS AND ACTORS HERE
Welcome to our 2023 Playwriting Cohort
Tom Block
Lauren D’Errico
Sarah Feingold
David Hanson
Paul Hufker
Nathaniel Johnson
Ben Jones
Lisa Kimball
Al Lefcowitz
Monte Monteleagre
Elise Wein
From Our Writers
“Quick question – is this the best group ever? 🙂 Thanks, again, for yesterday’s reading. Actors, you are all fantastic and brought so much life and humor to my words. And everyone, you gave me so many notes and ideas to consider. My producer friend [producer of Sweeney Todd on Broadway] wrote me the nicest email. She’s going to make some introductions. Eee :)”
– Sarah Feingold
“Being a part of a group interested in stretching the fabric of theater to the near breaking point has helped me grow as an artist as well as introduce me to new theories and approaches to playwriting.”
– Libby Heily
“Our cohort of writers leaves me continually inspired to think critically about the many containers available to tell stories. The work we do at Cut/Edge brings together artists with wildly different goals and lived experiences, but always brings me back to the joys and practicalities of experimental performance work.”
– Sophia Valera Heinecke
“I thank you for your hard work. I woke this morning thinking that’s one of the best cold readings I have ever had for any of my plays. A key reason for my satisfaction was that, after you settled into the language, I forgot that it was my play and I just traveled with it.”
– Al Lefcowitz
Past NYC Playwrights have included:
Tom Block, Founder, 2020-present
Kevin Kautzman, Founder, 2020, 2021
Zizi Azah 2020, 2021
James Bosley 2022
Brynn Hambley 2021, 2022
Libby Heily 2021, 2022
Sophia Heinecke 2020, 2021
William Hugel 2020
Nick Jonczak 2021, 2022
Matthew Macca 2020
Grayson May 2021
Monte Monteleagre 2020 – present
Gregg Nanni 2022
Serena Norr 2021, 2022
Judah Skoff 2020, 2021, 2022
Brett Wolfe 2022
John Zoitos 2021