Open Call: Rough Ideas by Rough Magic

Rough ideas is an open call for ideas from writers and theatre artists who are interested in making work with Rough Magic.

To celebrate Rough Magic’s 40 birthday, they want to use the opportunity during their anniversary year to discover new talent and engage with even more artists.

Rough Ideas is an open call for emerging/early career writers to submit the beginnings of a play, or part of a play in progress. This is an opportunity to initiate a working relationship with one of Ireland’s leading theatre producers. The winner will receive an award of €2,500 and will work with Rough Magic’s Literary Manager over the course of 2025 to develop their play.

This award is designed to give the winner the opportunity to engage in dedicated dramaturgical work alongside their ongoing commissioning structure, in order to produce a full first draft of a play.

Rough Magic was founded on the core values of egalitarianism and fairness. They welcome submissions from anyone living on the island of Ireland (or Irish citizens living abroad) and would like to encourage applications that are representative of Irish theatre artists in all their diversity – particularly from artists who are currently underrepresented on Irish stages.

Rough Magic has been commissioning writers and producing new work since its inception. For four decades new writing and artist development have been cornerstones of Rough Magic’s work. In the last two years they have produced three world premiere productions under their Compass strategy. They are thrilled in this anniversary year to be continuing that practice and expanding the Rough Ideas programme.

Simply fill in this short application form and upload your pdf/word doc of the scenes you want to submit. 

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 4 October. For more information, visit roughmagic.ie

Image by Jeda de Brí of Wander Wander Wild Wild by Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng at Rough Weekend 2022.