How to Be the 1st High School in Your State to Stage Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Attention, muggles! Broadway Licensing Global is launching a new contest titled "Wands at the Ready" that will award high schools the right to be the first in their U.S. state or territory to stage the new high school edition of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Entrants are asked to describe why their school or community is the most "magical" place to produce the Olivier- and Tony-winning play, with winning performances to take place between October 15 and November 10, 2024.

And those interested are asked to act fast—submissions are only being accepted through December 15. Full guidelines and submission instructions can be found at BroadwayLicensing.com.

The high school version of the hit play is currently in development with the work's original creative team, including playwright Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, and with sign-off by J.K. Rowling. The adaptation will shorten the piece's runtime along with creating solutions that make the professional production's high-tech wizardry possible regardless of budget size. The adaptation was announced earlier this year.

"High schools should think of 'magical' as demonstrating how their school or drama program shows a passion for commitment to the arts, student inclusion and diversity, and ways they plan to promote the production within their communities," says Broadway Licensing Global Founder and CEO Sean Cercone in a statement.

Selected schools will be required to pay any required royalties and production package fees to license the show. The winning productions will be considered the work's first official stagings, though they will follow developmental pilot productions planned for early 2024.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. The play takes place 19 years after the source material book series, and follows Harry Potter's son Albus and his friendship with Scorpius, the son of rival Draco Malfoy, in their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The original West End production premiered in 2016, receiving 11 Olivier Award nominations and winning nine including Best New Play. The Broadway transfer opened at The Lyric Theatre in 2018, then received 10 Tony Award nominations and won six, including Best Play.