The Alcove at the Lortel is a national and international multi-faceted approach to developing plays by early and mid-career playwrights and translators led and curated by Caridad Svich. The play development process starts with the awarding of commissions for full-length work. Additional elements include R & D work sessions in conjunction with dramaturgs, directors and/or designers, and rotating roster of artists-in-residence. Two digital components of the program are a digital reading series and a webcast series entitled “Conversations from the Alcove” where Svich chats with Lortel-commissioned artists about arts and ideas in theatre and performance.

Playwrights and Theatre-makers are currently selected for Alcove commissions both by invitation and through agent submission and referrals on a rolling basis between September and February. An open submission window will be announced in future, likely fall 2025.

We currently accept full scripts and queries from literary agents. Full unsolicited scripts are not accepted at this time. However, we will look at one page queries from writers interested in introducing their work to the Alcove. Open submissions may occur during limited timeframe to be announced at a later date.

Future components of the program will include a scratch night series, a works-in-progress festival and more. The Alcove is a place to seed dreams and innovative writing for performance reflective of the breadth and depth of artistry and perspectives in the national and global theatre realm.