MACH 33: The Festival of New Science-Driven Plays
Caltech Theater announces the Call for Submissions of new plays for the 9th annual MACH 33: The Caltech Festival of New Science-Driven Plays on April, 2025!
MACH 33: The Caltech Festival of New Science-Driven Plays energizes the conversations about scientific, mathematical, and technological questions by staging readings of new, unpublished, unproduced plays. The readings are open to the public and present a discussion with Caltech/JPL scientific panelists after the show. Our casts and crews feature actors, students, and members of the Caltech/JPL community and the Los Angeles theater community. Our festival playwrights have the unique opportunity to work with science advisors from Caltech and JPL to develop the science in their plays.
All playwrights must be based in the Greater Los Angeles area and be able to attend the Festival at Caltech in April.
The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2024. Send to Associate Artistic Director of the festival Arden Thomas at arden.e.thomas@gmail.com, and be sure to put Mach 33 in the subject heading. Click here for guidelines for submission.
Caltech Theater announces the call for submissions of new plays-in-progress for the inaugural LAUNCHPAD, starting Fall 2024!
This new play development program seeks to spark creative exchange between playwrights and scientists, serving as a laboratory for new plays focused on scientific, mathematical, and/or technological themes. Operating under the auspices of MACH 33, the new LAUNCHPAD initiative is aimed at works-in-progress in the earlier stages of the script writing process. Through this program, playwrights will also have the unique opportunity to work with science advisors from Caltech and JPL to develop their plays.
The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2024. Send to LAUNCHPAD Program Manager Cole Remmen at coleremmen@gmail.com with "MACH 33 Launchpad" in the subject line. Click here for submission guidelines.
MACH 33 energizes the conversations about scientific, mathematical, and technological questions by staging readings of new, unpublished, unproduced plays. Festival playwrights have the unique opportunity to work with science advisors from Caltech and JPL – so we focus on plays that could benefit from this science mentorship. The readings are open to the public and present a discussion with Caltech/JPL scientific panelists after the show. Our casts and crews feature professional actors and directors as well as students and members of the Caltech/JPL community.
Since 2013, MACH 33 has helped develop exciting new plays such as The New Galileos by Amy Berryman, Socially Unacceptable by Matt Steinberg, The Sunrise From the Moon by Hannah Manikowski, Another Revolution by Jacqueline Bircher, Two Degrees by Tira Palmquist, Theory of Nothing by Lolly Ward, The Chisera by Paula Cizmar, Out of Orbit by Jennifer Maisel, Out There Right Here by Anna Nicholas, Planet Between the Stars by Hillary Bhaskaran, The Last Flight of the Mercenary by Karen Howes, and Tesla by Dan Duling.
In addition to science-based plays, since 2007 Caltech Theater has helped develop plays such as God Particle Complex by Chris Bell and Josh Zeller, Mate by Lolly Ward, The Washing of the Water by Marcus Renner, and the trilogy of plays by George Morgan: Rocket Girl, Pasadena Babalon, and Capture the Sun.
Read here about Caltech Theater's 2023 production of Another Revolution in Italy.
Brian Brophy, director of Theater Arts at Caltech, is the Artistic Director of MACH 33. Arden Thomas serves as the Associate Artistic Director.
