The “Playing Ace” play festival is an opportunity for folks who are interested in showcasing and exploring asexual worldmaking to connect and share their work! We aim to provide opportunities for playwrights to produce and then publish their work, to expand the reach of these important stories.

This festival accepts short one acts (10-25 minutes) and full length plays (80-120 minutes). A selection of these plays will be produced in Madison in Spring 2027. These plays will then have the opportunity to join our formal proposal to create the first anthology of asexual plays.

Open Submissions

• Short Plays: November 1st or after 200 submissions

• Full Length Plays: November 1st or after 100 submissions

Play Submission Guidelines

• Given the festival’s mission, all submitted plays must feature a story that relates to asexualities

• All plays must be submitted via the submission form. No physical copies.

• Playwrights may only submit one script. 

• Script must be original, unpublished, and unproduced (previous readings or workshops are acceptable).

• Formatting:

  • Standard format, such as Dramatists Guild Modern Stage Play, Final Draft, etc.

  • 12-point, standard font such as Times New Roman or Courier

  • Double-spaced

  • Numbered pages from the first page of the action/dialogue, excluding the title page, author information, setting, character descriptions, notes, etc.

  • For guidance on formatting, visit the Dramatist Guild’s guide here.

• There are two submission options:

  • Full length plays (80 to 120 minutes)

  • Short plays (10 to 30 minutes)

• Unfortunately, the number of submissions prevents us from providing feedback on submitted scripts.

Each of the Finalists will receive

• A staged reading before the festival audience with an assigned director and a cast of actors.

• Inclusion in a proposal for the first anthology of asexual plays