Playwright Residencies

Having a playwright-in-residence at a theatre or other organization can have huge benefits for the writer, the organization, and the community. Much of the content in this section is about or generated by participants in the National Playwright Residency Program, which HowlRound administers in partnership with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Don’t miss this series of conversations between playwrights in the program discussing what they’ve learned from being embedded within a theatre company.

The Latest

The Art of Staying in a (Rigged) Game

Essay

The Art of Staying in a (Rigged) Game

by Betty Shamieh

22 July 2024

Ten Years of The Gun Show

Essay

Ten Years of The Gun Show

by E. M. Lewis, Nate Cohen

27 June 2024

What Is the African Diaspora?

Video

What Is the African Diaspora?

A Conversation About Afro-Atlantic Culture with Playwright Zainabu Jallo and Africana Scholar Maboula Soumahoro

Sunday 15 October 2023

Minneapolis, MN

Two woman sit at a crowded dinner table on stage, talking to one another.

The Art of Staying in a (Rigged) Game

Betty

Shamieh

Essay

The Art of Staying in a (Rigged) Game

22 July 2024

Playwright Betty Shamieh advocates for playwrights continuously applying for opportunities even after repeated rejections, and highlights why doing so is especially important for playwrights from marginalized communities.

Two actors stand in a dimly lit space with one shining a flashlight in the others face.

Ten Years of The Gun Show

Essay

Ten Years of The Gun Show

27 June 2024

Ten years after writing The Gun Show, playwright Ellen Lewis looks back at the play that tasks an actor with the delivery of a series of gun stories from Lewis’s life—typically with Ellen among the audience. Lewis sits down with Nate Cohen, who worked on the show for several runs that totaled more than one hundred performances, to reflect on the ways the play, its playwright, and the world have changed over ten years of productions.

event poster for the The Afro-Atlantic Playwright Festival 2023.

What Is the African Diaspora?

Illusion Theater

Video

What Is the African Diaspora?

A Conversation About Afro-Atlantic Culture with Playwright Zainabu Jallo and Africana Scholar Maboula Soumahoro

Sunday 15 October 2023

Minneapolis, MN

Moderated by director and festival curator Carlyle Brown, this conversation was a post-show discussion after a performance of Zainabu Jallo's play We Take Care of Our Own, a tale of migration and aging in the diaspora.

On the left, a performer stands on top of a curved platform and speaks. On the right, a performer sits on a round platform with hands clasped together.

A Cypher Among Theatremakers from the Laotian Diaspora

Essay

A Cypher Among Theatremakers from the Laotian Diaspora

7 September 2023

Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay convenes a roundtable discussion among actors, directors, producers, and playwrights from the Laotian diaspora who work in theatre in the United States. As former refugees and/or the refugees, these theatremakers navigate their places as arrivers in the settler-colonial structure of the United States.

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 seated in a wheelchair speaks passionately to a man squatting in front of her.

Playwright Caregivers

Essay

Playwright Caregivers

6 July 2023

Playwrights Carlyle Brown, Elaine Romero, and Catherine Filloux come together to discuss their experiences as working theatre artists who also act as caregivers to their spouses.

Five cast members of Ain't No Mo' stand on stage during a performance.

Dreaming Beyond Broadway

Essay

Dreaming Beyond Broadway

13 April 2023

Playwrights Star Finch, Psalmayene 24, and J. Nicole Brooks chat about Black playwrights on Broadway, and what being produced there represents to them.

A purple stage with a lit blue backdrop.

Inventing the “Flay” (Film/Play) with Campo Santo

Essay

Inventing the “Flay” (Film/Play) with Campo Santo

16 March 2023

When Campo Santo decided to film their production of Star Finch’s Side Effects early in the COVID-19 pandemic, they were embarking on a creative journey that felt entirely novel and a little overwhelming. In this conversation, the production’s directors discuss development of the production’s aesthetic and the generative process they embarked on at the intersection of “film” and “play.

Four senior actors stand on-stage and look at their scripts during a rehearsal.

Elder Dramaturgy

Carlyle

Brown

Essay

Elder Dramaturgy

7 March 2023

Playwright Carlyle Brown describes his journey with the play We Take Care of Our Own by Zainabu Jallo, detailing the joys and challenges that come from work featuring characters in their eighties and nineties.

Tipi Tales from the Stoop: A Performance by Murielle Borst-Tarrant (Kuna/Rappahannock)

Brown Arts Institute

Video

Tipi Tales from the Stoop: A Performance by Murielle Borst-Tarrant (Kuna/Rappahannock)

Performance and Post-Show Discussion at Brown University

Tuesday 29 November 2022

United States

My family first came to New York City in the late 1800’s from Virginia and bought a house in Brooklyn and raised four generations. This story is about my family’s blood flow that is here on this land of New York City. How we as a family had to keep tradition alive. The performance and post-show discussion livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Tuesday 29 November 2022. This video archive is closed captioned.

A large selection of fresh grown vegetables lined up and organized by type on the grass.

Tending the Garden: Organic Observations on Playwriting

E. M.

Lewis

Essay

Tending the Garden: Organic Observations on Playwriting

7 November 2022

Writing from her little family farm in Oregon, E.M. Lewis applies the lessons learned in the garden to her experience as a librettist and playwright.

Three people posing for a picture together in front of a window overlooking the city.

Moving at the Speed of Trust: Two Theatres, One Playwright-in-Residence

Essay

Moving at the Speed of Trust: Two Theatres, One Playwright-in-Residence

24 October 2022

Star Finch sits down with artistic director of Crowded Fire Theater Mina Morita and co-founder of Campo Santo Sean San Jose to discuss their innovative idea to collaborate for the National Playwright Residency Program.

event poster for COMEDY, CRUELTY, & THE CONCEPT OF REVENGE with portraits of Betty Shamieh and Allen Gilmore.

Comedy, Cruelty, and the Concept of Revenge

Classical Theatre of Harlem

Video

Comedy, Cruelty, and the Concept of Revenge

Writer Betty Shamieh and Actor Allen Gilmore Discuss Their Interpretations of Malvolio as a Writer and an Actor

Wednesday 19 October 2022

United States

The Classical Theatre of Harlem presented the conversation Comedy, Cruelty, and the Concept of Revenge, livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 19 October 2022 at 4 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 6 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 7 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

2022 TCG Conference in Pittsburgh event poster.

2022 TCG National Conference: Pittsburgh

TCG

Video

2022 TCG National Conference: Pittsburgh

Redefining Our Art. Transforming Our Practices. Tending to Our People.

Thursday 16 June to Saturday 18 June 2022

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) presented the 2022 TCG National Conference: Pittsburgh livestreaming on the commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network from Thursday 16 June to Saturday 18 June 2022.

One actor stands on stage under a spotlight, kicking towards the audience.

Moving Theatre Toward Collective Self-Defense: Virginia Grise’s Your Healing is Killing Me

Marci R.

McMahon

Essay

Moving Theatre Toward Collective Self-Defense: Virginia Grise’s Your Healing is Killing Me

26 May 2022

Educator and writer Marci McMahon reflects on her experience seeing Virginia Grise’s movement manifesto Your Healing is Killing Me at Cara Mía Theatre Co.

New York Theatre Artists for Ukraine

Segal

Center

Video

New York Theatre Artists for Ukraine

A 12-hour online marathon of readings and conversations with 24 New York theatre institutions

Saturday 16 April 2022

New York City

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented New York Theatre Artists for Ukraine: A 12-hour online marathon of readings and conversations with 24 New York theatre institutions livestreaming on the commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 16 April 2022 at 7 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 5 p.m. EEST (Kyiv, UTC +3).

Representation Behind the Scenes

Podcast

Representation Behind the Scenes

With Betty Shamieh & Tracy Francis

6 April 2022

Last season we talked about on-stage representation in contemporary theatre. But what does representation look like behind the scenes and why is it important? How does the process change when there are MENA creative team members, production staff, directors, and playwrights involved from the inception of a project to its closing night? What role does this representation play in new work development? We will discuss all of this and more with playwright Betty Shamieh and artistic director of Boom Arts Tracy Francis as they share their past experiences, insight, and ideas for the future.

Close on the faces of three actors staring into the camera.

The Fight for the Right to Vote

Essay

The Fight for the Right to Vote

13 January 2022

Carlyle Brown’s Down in Mississippi is a celebration of a movement that gave birth to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Brown sat down with Todd London in October 2020 to discuss the creative process, historical context, and contemporary resonance of his play.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Resident Ensemble Theatre: UNIVERSES

Podcast

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Resident Ensemble Theatre: UNIVERSES

22 December 2021

Alison Carey, formerly of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp and Steven Sapp, co-founders and artistic directors of UNIVERSES, discuss putting ensemble producers inside a major producing entity and the capacity necessary for things to fall into place.

A man and woman sitting next to each other, smiling at one another.

Oh, Snap!

Essay

Oh, Snap!

Sean San José and Margo Hall in Conversation

20 December 2021

Sean San José, artistic director of Magic Theatre, and Margo Hall, artistic director of the Lorraine Hansberry theatre discuss stepping into their positions as artistic directors and reflect on their work together as two of the co-founders of Campo Santo Theatre.

How Do We Go On?

E. M.

Lewis

Essay

How Do We Go On?

14 December 2021

E.M. Lewis and a group of theatre artists connected with Artists Repertory Theatre come together to mark the ways they make it through the strange, dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite prolonged uncertainty across the theatre industry and the world, they find community in one another and strength in storytelling.

event poster for demystifying the playwriting process event.

Demystifying the Playwriting Process, Part Two

WP Theater

Video

Demystifying the Playwriting Process, Part Two

With Madeleine George, Basil Kreimendahl and Cori Thomas

Tuesday 7 December 2021

New York City

WP Theater presented Demystifying the Playwriting Process, Part Two with Madeleine George, Basil Kreimendahl and Cori Thomas livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network Tuesday 7 December at 5 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 7 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 8 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

A woman facing her back to three men and another woman.

The Mother of All Emotions

Betty

Shamieh

Essay

The Mother of All Emotions

7 December 2021

Playwright, author, screenwriter, and actor Betty Shamieh discusses her experience navigating the complexities of new motherhood as a woman in the theatre industry.

Adaptation and New Creation

In The Margin

The Juvenilia Collective

Breaking Wave Theatre Company

B Street Theatre

WOMB, the creation space

Urban Jazz Dance Company

Video

Adaptation and New Creation

Featuring Meme Garcia, Lauren Gunderson, Avi Amon, Réal Vargas Alanis, and Fran Astorga

Thursday 21 October 2021

United States

In this panel invited playwrights featured a part of the New American Theatre Festival discuss their process of creation and adaptation. Playwrights include Avi Amon, Lauren Gunderson, Réal Alanis, Meme Garcia and Fran Astorga. The conversation will be moderated by Amrita Ramanan. We will discuss with each writer leaning into the power of joy and decentering the tropes of trauma.

Indigenous Peoples' Day Panel: Native Women Leading

In The Margin

Video

Indigenous Peoples' Day Panel: Native Women Leading

Featuring Lofanitani Aisea, Jeanette Harrison, Murielle Borst-Tarrant, Moderated by Amber Ball (Dakubetede, Shasta, Modoc, Klamath)

Monday 11 October 2021

Turtle Island (North America)

In this conversation we discuss artistic leadership, practices, and methodology from an Indigenous perspective. It is our goal to highlight and amplify the work these three Native women continue to contribute to the arts world. Livestreaming on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network on Monday 11 October 2021 at 12 p.m. HST (Honolulu, UTC -10) / 2 p.m. AKDT (Juneau, UTC -8) / 3 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles, UTC -7) / 4 p.m. MDT (Albuquerque, UTC -6) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

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