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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

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
A Playwriting Masterclass
Monday 20 May 2024
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
A Playwriting Masterclass
Monday 13 May 2024
Creating Work in Series in the Anthropocene
Essay
Creating Work in Series in the Anthropocene
by Chantal Bilodeau
22 April 2024
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.

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 31 July 2023
New York City

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 24 July 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 will bring 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 17 July 2023
New York City

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 will bring the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

event poster for the sons of liberty pre show talk.
Sons of Liberty Pre-Show Talk
Video

Sons of Liberty Pre-Show Talk

Featuring Playwright Cris E. Blak, Director John "Ray" Proctor, and Guest Panelists Glenn Wofford and Joe Hargrove III (AKA DJ Tank)

Friday 30 June 2023
United States

Warrior Writers is a veteran-focused arts organization that fosters artistic exploration and expression through casual, welcoming workshops and retreats. By reflecting and creating in a comfortable space, we encourage and support healing and community building. Art making becomes the creative tool through which we understand and transcend experiences of trauma and emotional disruptions that are not easily identified but constantly felt.

One performer lifts another toward another performer dressed in a green fringe costume.
Grief (and Humor) in Climate Change Theatre
Essay

Grief (and Humor) in Climate Change Theatre

30 June 2023

Genevieve Simon reflects on the process of writing Bloom Bloom Pow, a play that makes space for collective grief by staging small-town chaos against a backdrop of the harmful algal bloom crisis in the Great Lakes region.

Gender Euphoria teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Queer Intimacies in Too-Near Dystopian Futures
Podcast

Queer Intimacies in Too-Near Dystopian Futures

With Guest Leanna Keyes

28 June 2023

Host Nicolas Shannon Savard and playwright Leanna Keyes discuss her play Doctor Voynich and Her Children. What does it mean to stage trans stories about queer motherhood, abortion, intimacy, choice, and power in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and the ongoing legislative attacks on reproductive rights and the trans community?

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 26 June 2023
New York City

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 will bring the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

A performer lies down on a set piece that looks like a whale.
The Intimacy of the Climate Crisis
Essay

The Intimacy of the Climate Crisis

26 June 2023

Chantal Bilodeau introduces a new installment of the Theatre in the Age of Climate Change series, which focuses contemporary plays and playwrights that explore the intimate impacts of climate change on both individuals and communities.

event poster for afrolatine superfriends playwriting hour with adrienne dawes.
AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Adrienne Dawes
Video

AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Adrienne Dawes

An AfroLatine-Led Playwriting Series Featuring Writers/Theatremakers from Across the United States

Thursday 22 June 2023
United States

The AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour is an incredible opportunity to learn from AfroLatine-led playwrights and theatremakers from all corners of the United States. With a wealth of experience, they will share their writing practices, experiences, and insightful anecdotes on the process, inspiration, and practices of dramatic writing. Live human-edited captions and American Sign Language (ASL) will be available for all live sessions, and human-edited closed captions will available on the archival video.

event poster for Dare To Dream with Cris E. Blak.
Dare To Dream with Cris E. Blak
Video

Dare To Dream with Cris E. Blak

Playwright Cris E. Blak Shares How his Dream of Writing and Premiering Sons of Liberty Became a Reality

Friday 16 June 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana

Cris Eli Blak is an emerging Black playwright whose work has garnered him recognition from The Negro Ensemble Company, Kairos Italy Theater, Austin Film Festival, Barrington Stage Company, TEDxBroadway, and Ignition Arts. Here he sits down to share how his dream of writing and premiering Sons of Liberty became a reality.

event poster for afrolatine superfriends playwriting hour with reynaldo piniella.
AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Reynaldo Piniella
Video

AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Reynaldo Piniella

An AfroLatine-Led Playwriting Series Featuring Writers/Theatremakers from Across the United States

Thursday 15 June 2023
United States

The AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour is an incredible opportunity to learn from AfroLatine-led playwrights and theatremakers from all corners of the United States. With a wealth of experience, they will share their writing practices, experiences, and insightful anecdotes on the process, inspiration, and practices of dramatic writing. Live human-edited captions and American Sign Language (ASL) will be available for all live sessions, and human-edited closed captions will available on the archival video.

event poster for The Astronaut — Play by Lucia Mann.
The Astronaut / Rehearsal for the Truth Festival
Video

The Astronaut / Rehearsal for the Truth Festival

Portrait of a Parent-Child Relationship of a Czechoslovakian Refugee Who Fled During the 1968 Prague Spring

Thursday 15 June 2023
New York City

In The Astronaut, a father receives a visit from his son. Complications in their relationship quickly become clear: the son, who wears a full astronaut suit, never replies to his father. The Astronaut is a touching variation on a one-man show, with the father speaking a series of monologues to his silent son.

Gender Euphoria teaser image.
Queer Intimacies, Trans Futures, Grief, and Radical Hope in Seahorse
Podcast

Queer Intimacies, Trans Futures, Grief, and Radical Hope in Seahorse

With Guest J.C. Pankratz

14 June 2023

Host Nicolas Shannon Savard interviews playwright J.C. Pankratz about their play Seahorse, a poetic, stream-of-consciousness one-person show about a trans man’s attempts at artificial insemination following his husband’s unexpected death. The conversation will dive into the play’s approach to the “messiness” of imagining futures you can’t yet see and its use of magical realism to invite audiences to sit inside that mess as witnesses and confidants.

Event poster for afrolatine superfriends with Candido Tirado.
AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Cándido Tirado
Video

AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Cándido Tirado

An AfroLatine-Led Playwriting Series Featuring Writers/Theatremakers from Across the United States

Thursday 8 June 2023
United States

The AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour is an incredible opportunity to learn from AfroLatine-led playwrights and theatremakers from all corners of the United States. With a wealth of experience, they will share their writing practices, experiences, and insightful anecdotes on the process, inspiration, and practices of dramatic writing. Live human-edited captions and American Sign Language (ASL) will be available for all live sessions, and human-edited closed captions will available on the archival video.

An actor on stage in performance of Evelyn Brown.
Conversation with the Original María Irene Fornés Design Team
Video

Conversation with the Original María Irene Fornés Design Team

Reuniting for the first ever revival of Evelyn Brown: (A Diary), Scenic Designer Donald Eastman, Costume Designer Gabriel Berry and Stage Manager Peter Littlefield discuss their long time collaboration with Fornés

Wednesday 7 June 2023
New York City

Dramaturg Gwendolyn Alker engages in a post-show conversation with Donald Eastman and Gabriel Berry—two members of María Irene Fornés’s design team—about the various shows they designed for Fornés, as well as their current work on the first-ever revival of Evelyn Brown (A Diary). Peter Littlefield, the stage manager for the original 1980 production, will also join.

event poster for a pre show conversation on the defiance of dandelions.
The Defiance of Dandelions Pre-Show Talk
Video

The Defiance of Dandelions Pre-Show Talk

Featuring Michele Seymour, Philana Imade Omorotionmwan, and Lauren Turner Hines

Friday 2 June 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana

This pre-show discussion was facilitated by Michele Seymour of Project Butterfly New Orleans, Playwright, Philana Omorotionmwan, and Producing Artistic Director of No Dream Deferred, Lauren Turner Hines. They address important themes and takeaways that were present in The Defiance of Dandelions.

Event poster for afrolatine superfriends playwriting hour with darrel alejandro holnes.
AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Darrel Alejandro Holnes
Video

AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour with Darrel Alejandro Holnes

An AfroLatine-Led Playwriting Series Featuring Writers/Theatremakers from Across the United States

Thursday 1 June 2023
United States

The AfroLatine Superfriends Playwriting Hour is an incredible opportunity to learn from AfroLatine-led playwrights and theatremakers from all corners of the United States. With a wealth of experience, they will share their writing practices, experiences, and insightful anecdotes on the process, inspiration, and practices of dramatic writing. Live human-edited captions and American Sign Language (ASL) will be available for all live sessions, and human-edited closed captions will available on the archival video.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work
Podcast

Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work

31 May 2023

Stewart Pringle, senior dramaturg at the National Theatre, sheds light on the theatre’s Generate program. Jeffrey Mosser and Stewart discuss the problem with the term “literary department,” when to take a risk, and why it’s important that the big fish in the big pond makes the investment in smaller-scale ensemble-based companies.