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New Play Development

New work is the future of theatre, and this is where you’ll find in-depth content about best practices for its development, as well as pieces about specific work. Consider starting with the essay “Rules of Engagement for New Play Development” and Notes to the Note-Givers; or, Embracing the Paradox.” For musings on the power of new work, watch the video of Todd London’s keynote for the 5th Annual ORIGINKC: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL or read the transcript.

The Latest

What Makes St. Louis a Flourishing Ecosystem for New Plays and Cooperative Production Models
Essay
What Makes St. Louis a Flourishing Ecosystem for New Plays and Cooperative Production Models
by Jacob Juntunen
13 February 2024
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
A Playwriting Masterclass
Monday 25 March 2024
New York City
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
A Playwriting Masterclass
Monday 11 March 2024
New York City
A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 25 March 2024
New York City

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 11 March 2024
New York City

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work with Special Guest Neil deGrasse Tyson
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work with Special Guest Neil deGrasse Tyson

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 4 March 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 26 February 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A row of actors read from scripts on music stands.
What Makes St. Louis a Flourishing Ecosystem for New Plays and Cooperative Production Models
Essay

What Makes St. Louis a Flourishing Ecosystem for New Plays and Cooperative Production Models

13 February 2024

Jacob Juntunen traces the collaborative network of theatres and theatremakers in St. Louis that share resources and make the city a rich environment for new play development. 

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 12 February 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 5 February 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 29 January 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 22 January 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 8 January 2024
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

An actress sings passionately during a performance.
Interrogating the Politics of Oppression in The Struggle
Essay

Interrogating the Politics of Oppression in The Struggle

4 January 2024

Dan Kpodoh’s The Struggle dramatizes governmental and corporate exploitation in the oil-rich Niger Delta by telling the story of a group of militants who sought liberation but became corrupted by financial interests. Eseovwe Emakunu, a Nigerian theatre professional, interviews Kpodoh about the play’s function as protest theatre against political oppression.

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 11 December 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 4 December 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 27 November 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 20 November 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 6 November 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 30 October 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 16 October 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 28 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

A tall Black man performs passionately while surrounded by audience members.
Shakespeare Against the Canon in Our Verse in Time to Come
Essay

Shakespeare Against the Canon in Our Verse in Time to Come

22 August 2023

Karen Ann Daniels, Malik Work, and John “Ray” Proctor sit down with Melissa Lin Sturges to discuss their work on Our Verse in Time to Come, a Folger Theatre production that used Shakespeare as a jumping off point to become a testament to “the other bards”—the ones still living and the ones still to come.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 21 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

A man stands in an empty rehearsal space while a women sits across from him with a laptop.
On Collaborative Evolution with Friendship at its Core
Essay

On Collaborative Evolution with Friendship at its Core

21 August 2023

After three decades of working together as playwright and director, collaborators and friends Carlyle Brown and Noel Raymond are trying something new: co-creating a theatrical work and performing in it. They sit down to discuss the project’s genesis in their friendship and the research, questions, and experiences that are shaping their generative process.

A woman looks skeptically toward the camera.
Negotiating the Migrant Self in Maia Novi’s Invasive Species
Essay

Negotiating the Migrant Self in Maia Novi’s Invasive Species

15 August 2023

Maia Novi’s testimonial play Invasive Species tells the story of one Argentinean immigrant’s experience constructing her sense of self in the United States in the face of the limitations on her identity that she encounters in her new home. Sebastián Eddowes-Vargas, a Peruvian living in the United States, reviews the production with an eye toward the way that Invasive Species embraces complexity, humanity, power imbalances, and even humor.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 14 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 7 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.