“FADE TO BLACK” PLAY FESTIVAL SCRIPT SUBMISSIONS FOR 10-MINUTE PLAYS 
Building on the growing success and popularity of our previous years, Shabach Enterprise presents its 14th season of the Fade To Black Play Festival, Houston's only short play festival celebrating the new works of African American playwrights.

See details below.
 
TEN-MINUTE PLAYS:
SCRIPT SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED FROM TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2025 (12:00 am CST) TO TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 (11:59 pm CST).
- No fee is required.
- No restriction of theme or genre.
- Three (3) script submissions are allowed per playwright.
- Selected playwright winners will be awarded a cash prize of $100.00.

Winners Announced: Sunday, Sunday, November 2, 2025.

TO SUBMIT:
1. Complete the script submissions application. CLICK HERE
 
TO QUALIFY:
1. Playwright must be the sole author of the submitted work.
2. Playwright must publicly and openly identify themselves as African-American, Black, or of the African diaspora.
3. Previously published or produced work by the author or theatre/company is not allowed (See definitions below).
4. Play must run no longer than 10 minutes long on stage, but no shorter than 8 minutes. (Conduct informal readings to ensure).
5. Play should accommodate a “bare-stage” set requiring only a minimum of removable stage props and require basic lighting and sound cues.
6. Play must not be a musical.
7. Play must not be written for children or youth.
8. Play must not contain characters that are under 17 years old.
9. Play must not be a re-submission of previous Fade To Black play festival seasons. (Your play(s) must not be work that had been submitted to us in the past.)
10. Play must not be considered a translation or adaptation.
11. Play must not be a film. Screenplays/Scripts written for television or cinema will not be accepted.
12. Play should be "stand-alone", a separate body of work that has not been extracted from a larger, previously written play.
13. Author must be at least 18 years of age.
14. Play must be submitted in a PDF format.