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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
Introducing Ignited
Essay

Introducing Ignited

Communiques from the LTC’s El Fuego initiative

24 October 2016

Irma Mayorga and Olga Sanchez introduce a new initiative from the Latinx Theatre Commons championing scholarship around new Latinx plays.

Submitting Like A Man
Essay

Submitting Like A Man

The Plot Thickens

18 October 2016

Two more of “Max’s” plays receive different responses than Mya’s did, leading her to affirm her belief that bias is at work in the submission process.

Meet the Writers at the 23rd Annual Playwrights' Week
The Lark
Video

Meet the Writers at the 23rd Annual Playwrights' Week

Monday 17 October 2016
New York, NY, United States

The Lark in New York City presented Meet the Writers, the public kick-off event of the 23rd Annual Playwrights’ Week livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 17 October at 7 p.m. EDT (New York) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 23:00 GMT.

Producing Advice from the Company that Named Themselves Team Awesome Robot
Essay

Producing Advice from the Company that Named Themselves Team Awesome Robot

Part Two

16 October 2016

The second dispatch from Team Awesome Robot on producing independent theatre in New York City.

To Fear or Not to Fear
Essay

To Fear or Not to Fear

Community and New Play Producing

14 October 2016

In this piece, Triple Play project leads Tory Bailey and Brad Erickson respond to selections of a conversation between playwrights Laura Jacqmin and Jacqueline Lawton.

Courtroom Drama
Essay

Courtroom Drama

the Politics and Poetics of One Community Immersion Experience

13 October 2016

Karen Hartman describes the process of immersing herself in a community in order to tell their story on stage, in this installment of the Triply Play series.

New Plays, New Conversations
Essay

New Plays, New Conversations

12 October 2016

In this installment for the Triple Play series, Director of Community Engagement Leda Hoffmann shares Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s process for curating dialogue about new work with their audience.

Speedo Activism
Essay

Speedo Activism

Intimacy and the Aesthetics of Resistance

26 September 2016

Priscilla Page on Ricardo Gamboa and Sean James William Parris’ Space Age at Free Street Theater in Chicago, Illinois.

Roe and the American Revolutions Cycle at OSF
Essay

Roe and the American Revolutions Cycle at OSF

Dramatic, Present, and Human

10 September 2016

In this cultural moment of divisiveness, how is one of the true stories of abortion theatricalized? Holly Derr considers Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s co-production of Roe by Lisa Loomer. 

Behind the Curtain
Essay

Behind the Curtain

PlayPenn, The Ground Floor, and the National Playwrights Conference

31 August 2016

A conversation with new play leaders Sarah Rose Leonard, Paul Meshejian, and Anne Morgan about playwriting.

On the Offensive
Essay

On the Offensive

30 August 2016

Daniel Kelin describes the process of working on a play with a multi-racial and -ethnic ensemble playing characters from many different backgrounds.

The Year of Yockey at Kitchen Dog Theater
Essay

The Year of Yockey at Kitchen Dog Theater

11 August 2016

Shelby-Allison Hibbs on Kitchen Dog Theater’s productions of Steve Yockey’s Blackberry Winter and The Thrush and the Woodpecker.

The Women of Summer
Essay

The Women of Summer

7 August 2016

Carey Purcell looks at female artistic leadership of summer companies at New York Stage and Film, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Translation Theatre
Essay

Translation Theatre

New Saloon Theater Co. on MINOR CHARACTER

26 July 2016

Bertie Ferdman chats with New Saloon Theater Co. about their recent production, MINOR CHARACTER: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time at The Invisible Dog in Brooklyn, New York.

Blasting The Bachelors
Essay

Blasting The Bachelors

Feminism and Cole Theatre’s Latest Production

12 July 2016

Andrew Bailes on the critical reception of The Bachelors, written by Caroline V. McGraw and directed by Erica Weiss in Chicago, Illinois. 

The World Premiere of Oreo, Carrot, Danger; A Play of Rituals
FaultLine Theatre
Video

The World Premiere of Oreo, Carrot, Danger; A Play of Rituals

Friday 8 July at 2016
San Francisco, CA, United States

FaultLine Theater in San Francisco presented the world premiere of Oreo, Carrot, Danger; a play of rituals, by Nayia Kuvetakis, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at HowlRound.TV on Friday 8 July at 7:30 p.m. PDT (San Francisco) / 9:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 10:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 23:30 GMT (London). Follow @howlroundtv and #howlround in Twitter for updates.  

The 2016 Great Plains Theatre Conference Open Panels
GPTC
Video

The 2016 Great Plains Theatre Conference Open Panels

Sunday 29 May to Thursday 2 June 2016
Omaha, NB, United States

The Great Plains Theatre Conference livestreamed from Omaha, Nebraska on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 29 May to Thursday 2 June at 11 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 1 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 2 p.m. EDT (New York) / 18:00 GMT / 7 p.m. BST (London). Share your thoughts on Twitter with #howlround.

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

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

23 May 2016

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

Event banner ad for Ingram New Works Festival.
Livestreaming Nashville Repertory Theatre’s Ingram New Works Festival
Nashville Rep
Video

Livestreaming Nashville Repertory Theatre’s Ingram New Works Festival

11 - 14 May 2016
Nashville, TN, United States

Nashville Repertory Theatre’s Ingram New Works Festival in Nashville, Tennessee presents the latest new plays born from our Ingram New Works Project’s playwrights’ lab livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on May 11, 12, 13, and 14. Tweet your questions/comments to @nashrep using #howlround to participate in the talkback immediately following each reading.

Perfect Partnership
Essay

Perfect Partnership

Workshopping a New Play with a University

25 April 2016

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

The Wright Stuff Playwrights Panel
black and white palm tree logo
South Coast Repertory
Video

The Wright Stuff Playwrights Panel

Sunday 24 April 2016
Cosa Mesa, CA, United States

The South Coast Repertory presented The Wright Stuff livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 24 April at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco) /11 a.m. CDT (Chicago) /12 p.m. EDT (New York) / 16:00 GMT / 5 p.m. BST (London). On Twitter, use #howlround to join the conversation. 

Why I’m Breaking Up with Aristotle
Essay

Why I’m Breaking Up with Aristotle

22 April 2016

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

A Reading of Paula Vogel's Indecent
Segal_Centre_Logo
Segal
Center
Video

A Reading of Paula Vogel's Indecent

Monday 18 April 2016
New York, NY, United States

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented a reading of Paula Vogel's Indecent livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 18 April at 3:30 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 5:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6:30 p.m. EDT (New York). 

Performance of The Breath of Stars by Caridad Svich at Carthage College
Carthage College
Video

Performance of The Breath of Stars by Caridad Svich at Carthage College

Friday 11 March 2016
kenosha, WI, United States

Carthage College Theatre (Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA) and the Carthage New Play Initiative presented The Breath of Stars, a world-premiere production by Obie Award-winning theatre artist Caridad Svich livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 11 March at 5:30 p.m. PST (Los Angeles) / 7:30 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 8:30 p.m. EST (New York).

The 2016 Colorado New Play Summit
Denver Center
Video

The 2016 Colorado New Play Summit

Sunday 14 February to Friday 19 February 2016
Denver, CO, United States

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts presented three events from the 2016 Colorado New Play Summit livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Sunday 14 February to Friday 19 February. In Twitter, use #CNPS16 and #HowlRound. Follow @HowlRoundTV and @DenverCenter for updates.