Special Series

New Works

Photo Credit: Jeff Butchen

Our Mission

A.C.T. of Connecticut’s New Works Series was created to foster the development of new musicals in two distinct ways: by providing a creative, safe space for authors in the early stages of creating new projects, allowing them to work without the distractions of daily life, and by producing initial performances of emerging works, thereby providing creative teams with valuable insights as they continue with the development of their pieces.

A.C.T. of Connecticut is committed to cultivating and championing both new and established authors from across the diverse landscape of American theatre, with a particular focus on amplifying authentic, underrepresented voices.

Development Projects

Program Information

A large part of our mission at A.C.T. of CT is to foster the development of new musicals. We are passionate about showcasing the work of the next generation of writers and composers, and giving our community the opportunity to witness how new theatre is created; thus enabling Fairfield County to play a role in the development of new work.

We launched our New Works Series in the summer of 2018 with our “New Works Festival”. We were thrilled to present staged readings of two new musicals: Victory Train and Austen’s Pride. These two readings helped to launch this series with great success. In fact, the success of Austen’s Pride (during our “New Works Festival”) led to a fully-staged production at A.C.T. of CT in Spring 2019. Following that run, the show was then produced and presented at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle. A.C.T. of CT is honored to have played a large part in the development of this gorgeous musical and our participation in it has really “set the stage” for how we wish to continue to grow our New Works Series.

Since then, A.C.T. of CT has produced additional readings of new plays and musicals including the first professional production of the new musical, Nickel Mines, in association with Anita Donofrio. The writers were able to hear from our audiences and learn from the process of rehearsals what works and does not work, as they prepare for the next steps for this beautiful new musical.

We hope to expand our New Works series to include plays in the future, however at this time we are focused only on new musicals.

Submission Information

Thank you to all the talented writers, composers and creators who have shared their work with us! Due to the overwhelming number of New Works submissions, we are not currently accepting new scripts for the remainder of the 2024/2025 season.

We are continually inspired by the creativity and passion of artists creating new work, and we encourage you to check back in August 2025 for updated information on submissions.