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
actor's face against blue and red background.
Video

With Reactor's Laboratory for creation and experiment

Thursday 17 June 2021
Cluj, Romania

Reactor presented a performance of Exeunt livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network on Thursday 17 June 2021 at 20:00 EEST (Cluj, UTC +3) / 19:00 CEST (Berlin, UTC +2) / 18:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 10 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7).

A blue thing surrounded by indoor palm trees.
Essay
8 June 2021

Jonathan Mandell reflects on his experience of A Dozen Dreams, an art installation that began when twelve New York City-based women playwrights were asked: “What are you dreaming about right now?”

black background with white text taylor talks above black and white portraits of artists.
Video

Episode 9: Normandy Sherwood

Tuesday 18 May 2021
United States

HERE presented Taylor Talks: Episode 9 with Normandy Sherwood livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 18 May 2021 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

poster with headshots R to L: Candrice Jones, Heather Raffo, and Tamilla Woodard.
Video

With Candrice Jones, Heather Raffo, and Tamilla Woodard

Tuesday 27 April 2021
United States

Playwrights' Center presented ARTISTS IN CONVERSATION: New Frameworks for Performance—Now and Beyond with Candrice Jones, Heather Raffo, and Tamilla Woodard livestreaming on the global, common-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network on Tuesday 27 April 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

black background with white text taylor talks above black and white portraits of artists
Video

Episode 7: Minor Theater

Tuesday 20 April 2021
United States

HERE presents Taylor Talks: Episode 7 with Minor Theater livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 20 April 2021 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Puppet is standing behind a desk made to scale with tiny lamp and white phone. Newspaper clippings compose the backdrop.
Essay

Dramaturgical Thinking and the Mosaic Scale for Puppetry

9 April 2021

Emily LeQuesne discusses space as it relates to puppetry and shares a practical, five-step dramaturgy system for puppet theatre, which she developed, called the Mosaic Scale.

headshots of artists over red and purple gradient background.
Video

A summit for theater practitioners on creation, collaboration, and communication

Wednesday 31 March 2021
United States

Playwrights’ Center presented Empowering Directors and Playwrights: A summit for theater practitioners on creation, collaboration, and communication keynote address livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 31 March 2021 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

black and white photos of artists in zoom window boxes.
Video

Join Piehole members for a (free) technical skill-share and discussion on adaptation across mediums

Monday 29 March 2021
United States

Piehole presented Virtual Translation: Bringing Piehole's Disclaimer to Zoom livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 29 March 2021 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Video

Online conversations with artists that don’t fit in a box

Friday 26 March 2021
United States

Golden Thread Productions presented NO SUMMARY: a conversation with with John Eisner, Jamil Khoury, and Torange Yeghiazarian livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 26 March 2021 at 11 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

four actors posing for a photo
Essay

Virginia Grise’s Stage Adaptation of Helena Maria Viramontes’s Their Dogs Came with Them

17 March 2021

Manuel Muñoz reflects on Virginia Grise’s adaptation of Their Dogs Came with Them, which took place in fall 2019 under the colossal concrete freeway ramps of the I-10 freeway that dissect South Tucson from the edge of the Sonoran Desert.

zoom video chat of several people
Essay
3 March 2021

Holly Derr and Calley N. Anderson sit down to talk about how Calley adopted historian Saidiya Hartman’s theory of critical fabulation when writing her new play The Story and the Teller about the effect of the Memphis yellow fever epidemic of 1878 on African Americans and immigrants.

digital theatre screenshot
Essay

Site-Specific Performance for the Internet

4 January 2021

Barbara Fuchs chats with director and designer Jared Mezzocchi about his digital theatre production Russian Troll Farm, how to reverse-engineer Zoom, Isadora as the way forward, and more.

Video

10 Weeks In Jamaica: Theater Conversations from Jamaica to The World!

Sunday 3 January 2021
Jamaica

Akiba Abaka Arts presented the conversation Afro-Futurism and the Jamaican Stage as a part of the 10 Weeks in Jamaica series livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 3 January 2021 at 1 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 3 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 4 p.m. EST (Kingston, UTC -5).

Title and details of event, with headshots of the participants, and a photo of people on a stage under blue light kneeling with arms raised.
Video

10 Weeks In Jamaica: Theater Conversations from Jamaica to The World!

Sunday 27 December 2020
Jamaica

Akiba Abaka Arts presented the conversation Leaders of a New Stage as a part of the 10 Weeks in Jamaica series livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 27 December 2020 at 1 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 3 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 4 p.m. EST (Kingston, UTC -5).

Indecipherable handwritten text
Essay
14 December 2020

E. M. Lewis shares thirteen ways writers can think about the plays they’re writing, including the stakes, the world, and the music.

Video

Three nights of short plays written by up-and-coming trans* playwrights followed by roundtable discussions

Monday 16 November to Wednesday 18 November 2020
United States

Presenting Trans [Plays] of Remembrance livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Monday 16 November to Wednesday 18 November 2020 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

Photo of three conversation participants, with the event title and producers listed.
Video

With Star Finch, Ellen Sebastian Chang, and Lisa Marie Rollins, presented by Crowded Fire and Campo Santo.

Tuesday 27 October 2020
United States

Crowded Fire and Campo Santo presented the conversation On Radical Imagination & The Black Feminine Divine livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 27 October 2020 at 2 p.m. HST (UTC -9) / 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

a photograph laying on an open notebook
Essay
27 October 2020

Amanda L. Andrei discusses learning Romanian—her father’s native tongue—for her play Lena Passes By and shares methodology for dealing with translations, identifies unique issues of heritage language learners who are also writers, and reflects on the pain of being separated from language.

digital rendering of city street with white text PERFORMANCE XR 2020
Video

A Virtual Reality Symposium for Canadian artists and XR technologists, exploring creation and performance in XR

Friday 2 October to Saturday 10 October
Canada

Toasterlab presented the symposium Performance and XR 2020 (PXR2020) livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Friday 2 October to Saturday 10 October 2020.

headshots of panelists
Video

Centering the voices of Black leaders in theatre with the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation

Thursday 8 October 2020
United States

The National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation presented a Black Directors Roundtable livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 8 October 2020 at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

screenshot of two tweets
Essay

A Dramaturgical Perspective on Tabletop Role-Playing Games

29 September 2020

Todd Brian Backus, Percival Hornak and Nicholas Orvis—three dramaturgs and gamers—talk about what theatremakers can learn from the collaborative storytelling techniques employed in tabletop role-playing games.

actors on stage with text PLAYS TO PROGRESS
Video

A brief performance followed by a conversation about the resonance of Lockdown, a work by Cori Thomas launched at the O’Neill

Wednesday 9 September 2020
United States

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center presented Plays to Progress with Cori Thomas livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 9 September at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC-4).

Spectrum Theatre Ensemble logo.
Video

Premiering capstones for four new 10-minute plays, four public readings of works by playwrights on the spectrum, and panels on neurodiversity in the arts

Friday 31 July to Sunday 2 August 2020
United States

Spectrum Theatre Ensemble presented their Neurodiversity New Play Festival livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Friday 31 July to Sunday 2 August 2020.

two actors onstage
Essay

On Devised Theatre in the US

23 July 2020

Holly Holsinger, India Nicole Burton, Olivia Lilley, and Stefan Brün talk about devising in the United States, how each artist works differently, the future of American theatre, and more.

seven actors onstage
Essay

Performing Migration in Mexicatas / Realizar la migración en Mexicatas

9 July 2020

Mariela Lopez Flores speaks with Ariadna Ferreira—one of the creators of the show Mexicatas—about the realities of migration, Catalan vs. Mexican cultures, and more. / Mariela López habla con Ariadna Ferreira—una de las creadoras de la obra de teatro Mexicatas—sobre las realidades de la migración, la cultura catalana vs la cultura mexicana, y más.

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