About the Conference

The National Music Theater Conference is the nation's premier program for the development of music theater, including book musicals, song cycles, operas, and hybrid pieces. Each year, NMTC rigorously reviews hundreds of submissions from a national submission pool before selecting a small number of exciting new works of music theatre to undergo an intensive development process with leading directors, music directors, dramaturgs, and actors, culminating in public script-in-hand staged readings. In keeping with the ethos of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, the National Music Theater Conference strives to create a supportive, collaborative environment in which emerging and established artists alike are encouraged to explore, experiment, and take risks with their works-in-progress. This year’s selections join a long legacy of works that began their lives here in Waterford, including Avenue Q, Teeth, In the Heights, Violet, Nine, and more.