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Playwriting

The Latest

The Importance of Community for Playwrights
Essay
The Importance of Community for Playwrights
by Louis DeVaughn Nelson , Alexis Roblan, Marcus Scott, Christin Eve Cato
3 April 2024
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
A Playwriting Masterclass
Monday 22 April 2024
New York
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
A Playwriting Masterclass
Monday 15 April 2024
New York
A group of actors perform in a dimly lit space.
On Translating Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse’s Works for American Audiences
Essay

On Translating Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse’s Works for American Audiences

11 December 2023

Amelia Parenteau sits down with Sarah Cameron Sunde, who has translated and directed six of Jon Fosse’s plays, to mark the occasion of Fosse being awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature. Their conversation pays tribute to Sarah and Jon’s longstanding creative relationship, examines the plays’ Norwegian context as it is translated internationally, and uplifts the need for American audiences to see more dramatic work in translation.

Why The American Theatre Needs Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse Event Poster.
Why the American Theatre Needs Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse
Video

Why the American Theatre Needs Nobel Laureate Jon Fosse

A Roundtable on Bringing Plays in Translation to Our Stages  

Friday 8 December 2023
United States

This livestreamed event celebrates Jon Fosse with a very short excerpt from one of his plays. We hear from a few artists who collaborated on his early U.S. debut productions (2003 - 2013), and then broaden outwards to hear reports from the field on the state of international plays in translation and production in the U.S. today. 

Kunafa & Shay teaser image with guest headshots.
Home and Exile in Queer MENA Theatremaking
Podcast

Home and Exile in Queer MENA Theatremaking

6 December 2023

MENA cultures are deeply familial with a strong connection to home, defined geographically and through close family bonds. With fraught political and religious opinions about queerness throughout the region, making queer art can threaten those deep connections. How do queer MENA artists consider those complications when making theatre? How do individuals change culture in the face of possible exile? Multi-hyphenate artists Zeyn Joukhadar and Raphaël Aimé Khouri interrogate these questions.

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 4 December 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for the Daughters of Lorraine Podcast.
We’ve Got Trouble in Mind
Podcast

We’ve Got Trouble in Mind

29 November 2023

Hosts Jordan Ealey and Leticia Ridley discuss the contributions made by Alice Childress and the historical and contemporary significance of her play, Trouble in Mind, including the filmed 2021 production at the National Theatre in London.

An Evening With Martyna Majok Event Poster
An Evening with Martyna Majok
Video

An Evening with Martyna Majok

A Conversation with Playwright and Pulitzer Prize Winner Martyna Majok

Monday 27 November 2023
United States

The Segal Center hosted a conversation with playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok. Majok spoke about growing up in the US as a Polish immigrant, her career as a playwright, her creative process and upcoming new work. During the evening, Majok read excerpts from her Pulitzer Prize winning play Cost of Living.

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 27 November 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 20 November 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) teaser image.
Arts in Conversation with Christina Anderson, Martyna Majok, and Lauren Yee
Video

Arts in Conversation with Christina Anderson, Martyna Majok, and Lauren Yee

A Discussion with Harvey Young on the State of Contemporary Theatre

Saturday 11 November 2023
United States

The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) 2023 Annual Conference hosted this important conversation on the state of theatre in the 21st Century with playwrights Christina Anderson, Lauren Yee, and Martyna Majok, moderated by conference program chair and Dean of Boston University's School of the Arts Harvey Young.

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 6 November 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 30 October 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image with guest headshot.
Art as Politics
Podcast

Art as Politics

25 October 2023

Is art inherently political? Must artists consider sociopolitics in the development of their work? Hamed Sinno’s art has been constantly and publicly politicized. In this episode, we hear about Sinno’s own artistic process and how they approach their art in light of this politicization and their perspective on the role of art in politics in the MENA region and beyond.

A promotional graphic for Watch Me Work.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 16 October 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a communal work session for anyone eager to nurture and sustain their creative process. Facilitated by Public Theater Playwright-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and the New Work Development department, Watch Me Work takes place via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams that you can join at home, at school, or in a coffee shop from anywhere in the world!

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image with guest headshot.
Breaking Out of Queer Boxes
Podcast

Breaking Out of Queer Boxes

11 October 2023

Queer SWANA theatremakers are constantly breaking out of boxes. Even within queer and/or SWANA spheres, some artists are pushing boundaries and redefining broad identity categories. Join two such artists, Bazeed and Pooya Mohseni, in a discussion on the present and future of SWANA theatremaking.

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image with guest headshot.
Queer Representation in the United States
Podcast

Queer Representation in the United States

27 September 2023

In this episode, playwright and dramaturg Adam Ashraf Elsayigh joins co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson to unpack what it means to put queer SWANA characters on stage and discuss the future of representation in the United States.

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.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 28 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

A tall Black man performs passionately while surrounded by audience members.
Shakespeare Against the Canon in Our Verse in Time to Come
Essay

Shakespeare Against the Canon in Our Verse in Time to Come

22 August 2023

Karen Ann Daniels, Malik Work, and John “Ray” Proctor sit down with Melissa Lin Sturges to discuss their work on Our Verse in Time to Come, a Folger Theatre production that used Shakespeare as a jumping off point to become a testament to “the other bards”—the ones still living and the ones still to come.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 21 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 14 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 7 August 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 31 July 2023
New York City

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version brings the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 24 July 2023
United States

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version will bring the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

Suzan-Lori Parks' Watch Me Work event poster.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work
Video

Suzan-Lori Parks’ Watch Me Work

A Playwriting Masterclass

Monday 17 July 2023
New York City

Watch Me Work is a performance piece, a meditation on the artistic process, and an actual work session featuring Suzan-Lori Parks working on her newest writing project. Traditionally hosted on the mezzanine of the Public Theater Lobby, this version will bring the program to your home via Zoom sessions and HowlRound livestreams.

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.