Where would one submit a play that one wrote?

The avenues for new play submission are plentiful. First, each region of the U.S. has a program called The (region) New Playwright Competition. (The playwright must reside in the region; for example The Midwest New Playwright Competition accepts playwrights from Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa.) Plays accepted receive a stage reading directed by a professional director, and are assigned a dramaturg. During the event, the playwright rewrites his/her play after seeing a staged reading.

Next there are regional/national festivals such as the O’Neill Playwrights Festival (where August Wilson got his start), the Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, and many others of this nature.

Then there is the New Playwrights’ Lab in New York, a workhouse for developing new plays and playwrights, with dozens of successful alumni.

Many colleges as well have new play outlets of various kinds, where a visiting playwright can see their plays produced with student actors, as part of their training.

The stage reading (where the script is held in the actors’ hands while they perform the blocking and paralinguistics of the text) is the most common way to move your play toward full production. No, you do not get to have a voice in casting; even when your play is produced professionally, you will seldom have much say in the actors who are hired.