Editorial​/Writing Groundwork Reading Series Play Submissions Season Anaconda

Groundwork Reading Series Play Submissions for 2026 – 2027 Season

The Groundwork Reading Series at Anaconda Ensemble Theatre is taking submissions for the 2026‑2027 Season. Headed into their 5th Season, Anaconda Ensemble Theatre is a professional, non‑profit theatre located in Anaconda, MT. Submissions open January 19th!

Formerly titled the Community Reading Series, the Groundwork Reading Series is a professional but community‑based project, with affordable tickets and the shows will be performed in locations where theatre typically isn’t such as coffee shops, hotels, bed and breakfasts, bars/breweries, shops, restaurants, cafes, and more! Past series were held at the Hickory House Inn, Coffee Corral, the Washoe Theater Lobby, the Copper Village Museum and Art Center gallery space, The Bighorn Bottle Shop and Wine Bar, Sweet Pea Bridal, Gunslinger Gulch, Copperhead Lodge, Forgotten Times Barbershop, Discover Anaconda Visitors Center, Anaconda Yoga, Pintler’s Portal Hostel and The Revolver Bar (upcoming), all located in Anaconda, MT.

We aim at actually or thematically fitting all the plays into the locations they are playing and are interested in plays that are at a place in their journey that requires a financial investment for forward movement of the piece. AET pays all of their collaborators, so we are seeking pieces that are ready for that step; fully formed ideas that can benefit from a workshop experience.

We are looking for NEW plays that have never had a fully staged production, but they can have had table reads or staged readings. The plays will hopefully, but don't necessarily have to, fit into our location or categories listed here:

We are looking for plays written by writers from the following states:
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. We also accept submissions from artists who have worked with AET OR artists who are recommended to submit by a former AET collaborator. Last year we did open up to Nationally the last week – and got some great plays. However, as always, strongest consideration given to writers from Montana and the Mountain West.

• Plays that are complete or in process (we are not taking outlines or partially written pieces. Plays can be first draft and ready to edit, however.)
• Plays that are between 20 minutes and 90 minutes in length.
• Plays must only engage 1 to 4 actors plus an actor to read stage directions (doubling of characters is encouraged).
• Actors can be anywhere from ages 7 and up – but we will not accept any full youth shows or children’s theatre pieces.
• Plays that are looking for feedback to get to the next step in their…