New Play Development

The 2016 Middle East America Convening May 18–19, 2016 at The Lark.

Playwright Donna Hoke writes about an opportunity that allowed her to develop a new play on its feet in advance of a world premiere.

Chantal Bilodeau on writing ourselves out of the pyramid and why she is breaking up with Aristotle.

verity healey on what four new Russian plays performed at London’s Frontline Club say about the present and future of theatre in Russia.

Rhiannon D’Averc on Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 now playing in London, starring Nicole Kidman.

Holly Derr speaks with Lynn Nottage about her new play Sweat, a co-commission of Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Arena Stage, currently playing in Washington, DC.

Andrew Bailes reviews Theater Oobleck’s production of There Is a Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher.

Patricia Davis on the world premiere production of Audrey Cefaly’s Maytag Virgin at Quotidien Theatre in Washington, DC.

David Dudley reflects on Steel Hammer and the John Henry myth, at the Krannert Center in Urbana, Illinois.

Using the production of Ken Urban’s play A Sense of an Ending to launch the conversation, theatre  artists Adrienne Campbell-Holt, Gregg Mozgala, A. Rey Pamatmat,  Mfoniso Udofia, and Ken Urban talk about representation on stage. 

Independent producer Natalie Gershtein considers the playwright-producer relationship. Where she once thought that playwrights were waiting and hoping for a first production, she now comes across playwrights who want to hold out for a larger company.

Part interview, part photo essay, part play excerpts, Rebecca Stevens goes in-depth with playwright Marcus Gardley on his two recent productions at Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, Illinois. 

Holly L. Derr on Destiny of Desire by Karen Zacarías, Animal by Claire Lizzimore, Queens Girl in the World by Caleen Sinette Jennings, Women Laughing Alone with Salad by Sheila Callaghan, and Uprising by Gabrielle Fulton, all part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival in Washington, DC.

Henrik Eger reports on the trajectory of the Catholic docudrama Full of Grace from vision of the late Bishop Joseph Sullivan of Brooklyn to the stage in Philadelphia.

Effy Redman on Love, Sex, and Death in the Amazon by Robert Murphy, the inaugural production of Collider Theater Company, in New York City.

Brian Sonia-Wallace writes about his experience at the Latino/a Play Project at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Ruth Weiner and Meg Swanson, theatre practioners and scholars, talk to playwrights who have come through the Playwrights’ Center about their experiences.