fbpx New Play Development | HowlRound Theatre Commons

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

Podcast
The Trans History Project: A Cohort of Playwrights and Theatres
by Nicolas Shannon Savard, Bo Frazier
19 May 2026
Podcast
The Trans History Project: Ten Plays in Development
by Nicolas Shannon Savard, Bo Frazier
12 May 2026
Podcast
New Threads, New Forms: MENA/SWANA Dramaturgy and Development
by Nabra Nelson, Marina Johnson, Evren Odcikin
7 May 2026
Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video

A playwriting masterclass

Wednesday, June 12 2013
New York, NY, United States

You’re invited to join Suzan-Lori Parks from the lobby of The Public Theater forWatch Me Work which will be livestreaming for the global, peer-produced, open-source HowlRound TV project.

The eleventh performance in this series happens on Wednesday, June 12 at 2pm PDT (San Francisco) / 4pm CDT (Austin) / 5pm EDT (New York) / 21:00 GMT / 10pm BST (London). View a conversion into your local time.

Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video

A playwriting masterclass

Wednesday 5 June 2013
New York, NY, United States

Suzan-Lori Parks livestreamed Watch Me Work from The Public Theater in New York City on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 5 June 2013 at 2 p.m. PST (Vancouver, UTC -8) / 4 p.m. CST (Austin, UTC -6) / 5 p.m. EST (Montréal, UTC -5) / 10 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 23:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1)

 

Logo for LA Stage Alliance.
Essay

The Road to New Writing

31 May 2013

Holly Derr reports from LA Stage Day, where a lack of female playwrights demonstrates a larger problem: if LA has so many female writers, then how come none of them are getting produced?

Cover for a collection of 24 Gun Control Plays.
Essay
30 May 2013

NoPassport collaborates with The Vicious Circle for Gun Control Theatre/New Media Action Week to keep the dialoge through art alive on the subject of gun reform globally

Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video

A playwriting masterclass

Wednesday 29 May 2013
New York, NY, United States

Suzan-Lori Parks livestreamed Watch Me Work from The Public Theater in New York City on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 29 May 2013 at 2 p.m. PST (Vancouver, UTC -8) / 4 p.m. CST (Austin, UTC -6) / 5 p.m. EST (Montréal, UTC -5) / 10 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 23:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1).

 

Photo from a contemporary production of Hamlet.
Essay

Yekaterinburg

29 May 2013

Continuing the series, Christopher W. White reflects on his time viewing the strikingly contemporary art in Yekaterinburg

Wide photo of the Buenos Aires skyline.
Essay

The Argentine Production Model

26 May 2013

Paz Pardo explores the theatre models of the United States and Argentina.

Event banner ad for The Egypt Play.
Video
Saturday 25 May 2013
Williamsburg, VA, United States

Panglossian Productions in Williamsburg, Virginia presented a livestreaming workshop performance of Tori Keenan-Zelt’s new work The Egypt Play, or The Misses Blake on a Holiday Jihad livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 25 May 2013 at 4:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 6:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 7:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 23:30 GMT. View a conversion into your local time.

Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video

A playwriting masterclass

Wednesday 22 May 2013
New York, NY, United States

Suzan-Lori Parks livestreamed Watch Me Work from The Public Theater in New York City on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 22 May 2013 at 2 p.m. PST (Vancouver, UTC -8) / 4 p.m. CST (Austin, UTC -6) / 5 p.m. EST (Montréal, UTC -5) / 10 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 23:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1)

Photo from the play Baritones Unbound.
Essay
17 May 2013

Shari Malyn takes us inside a day in the life of a Creative Producer at ArtsEmerson's Creative Producers in Training program.

Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video

A playwriting masterclass

Wednesday 15 May 2013
New York, NY, United States

Suzan-Lori Parks livestreamed Watch Me Work from The Public Theater in New York City on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 15 May 2013 at 2 p.m. PST (Vancouver, UTC -8) / 4 p.m. CST (Austin, UTC -6) / 5 p.m. EST (Montréal, UTC -5) / 10 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 23:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1

Event banner ad for Ingram New Works Festival.
Video
Saturday 11 May through Tuesday 14 May 2013
Nashville, TN, United States

Tennessee Rep in Nashville presented the Ingram New Works Festival livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Saturday 11 May through Tuesday 14 May 2013.

Video
Saturday 11 May 2013
Sarasota, FL, United States

Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota presented the annual Young Playwrights Festival livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 11 May beginning at 7 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 9 a.m. CDT (Chicago) / 10 a.m. EDT (New York) / 14:00 GMT / 3 p.m. BST (London). ​

Candid photo of Ben Gransky.
Essay
2 May 2013

In this installment, Ben Gansky and Eric Powell Holm talk about making the The Wild Plan.

Pacific Playwrights Festival logo.
Video
Sunday 28 April 2013
Cosa Mesa, CA, United States

South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California presented a new addition to the 16th annual Pacific Playwrights Festival: a playwrights' panel delving into the question “Why this play, now?” livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 28 April 2013 at 9:30 a.m.-10:15 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 12:30 p.m.-1:15 p.m. EDT (New York) / 16:30-17:15 GMT / 5:30 p.m.-6:15 p.m. BST (London).

A drawing of a penguin holding a briefcase.
Essay
28 April 2013

Ben Gansky offers steps to optimize a theatre's business platform.

Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video

A playwriting masterclass

Thursday 25 April 2013
New York, NY, United States

Suzan-Lori Parks livestreamed Watch Me Work from The Public Theater in New York City on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 25 April 2013 at 2 p.m. PST (Vancouver, UTC -8) / 4 p.m. CST (Austin, UTC -6) / 5 p.m. EST (Montréal, UTC -5) / 10 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 23:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1)

Logo for Scriptworks.
Essay
19 April 2013

Christina J. Moore writes about the weirdness of Austin, and how FronteraFest has revolutionized the way the city develops and produces new work.

Skyline photo of Austin, Texas in the U.S.
Essay
17 April 2013

Daniel Alexander Jones muses on his lively experiences working in Austin's expanding theatre scene.

The company of Rude Mechs.
Essay
16 April 2013

The Rude Mechs explain how their method of including their audiences – inviting them to join in on the creative process – helps to better engage their patrons... and their artists.

A man with a baby chick.
Video
Sunday 14 April 2013
Tempe, AZ, United States

Arizona State University in Tempe's School of Theatre and Film presented the world premiere of soot and spit by Charles Mee livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 14 April at 2 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 4 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 5 p.m. EDT (New York) / 21:00 GMT / 10 p.m. BST (London).

Banner event ad for Crying for Lions.
Video
Saturday 6 April 2013 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York)
Williamsburg, VA, United States

Panglossian Productions presented the second installment in its new Plays in Progress series: a live and on-line developmental reading of Steven Young’s new play, The King’s Face, hosted by the New Town Art Gallery in Williamsburg, Virginia, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 6 April 2013 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York). Click here for a conversion into your local time zone.

Banner poster for Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Video
Friday, April 5 2013
Louisville, KY, UNited States

Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays presented a livestreaming panel discussion Charting the Course: New Play Directors in Conversation livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday, April 5 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York) / 17:00 GMT / 6 p.m. BST (London). Click here for a conversion into your local time.

 

 

The New York Times logo.
Essay
5 April 2013

This first set of notes from the NYT Critic Watch projects disects the focus of reviews and if the readers actually agree with them

Teaser poster for Watch Me Work, which features Suzan-Lori Parks leaning an arm against a bench.
Video
Wednesday 3 April 2013
Boston, MA, United States

Emerson College in Boston presented two events involving Suzan-Lori Parks livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 3 April 2013.

Subscribe to HowlRound

Sign up for our daily, weekly, or quarterly emails so you never miss the latest theatre conversations.

Sign me up

Support HowlRound

We fundraise to keep all our programs free and open and to pay our contributors. Thank you to all who make our work possible!

Donate today