• Source: PlayPenn

PlayPenn is a new play development conference located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Che'Rae Adams is the Artistic Director, along with Associate Artistic Directors, Susan Dalian and Santiago Iacinti. PlayPenn works with playwrights to develop new plays in a collaborative and supportive workshop environment.
Since PlayPenn's first conference in 2005, the organization has been hosting annual July conferences in Philadelphia, where invited playwrights work with actors, directors, dramaturgs and designers to rehearse, revise and develop their new scripts in workshops. The conference includes free public readings of the plays, as well as forums and symposia.
PlayPenn has helped develop over 150 new plays, 60% of which have become over 350 full productions at theater companies in the United States and abroad. Playwrights who have workshopped scripts at PlayPenn include Jeffrey Hatcher, Deb Margolin, Aaron Posner, Michael Hollinger, Samuel D. Hunter, J.T. Rogers, and Lauren Yee. In 2017, PlayPenn saw the first of its plays to go to Broadway, J.T. Rogers' Oslo, which won the Tony Award for Best Play.
PlayPenn supports playwrights through The Foundry, its three-year membership program to support emerging playwrights in Philadelphia with professional development, networking opportunities, and exposure. PlayPenn also offers classes and workshops during other months throughout the year, as well as consultations and support for playwrights from dramaturgs and editors.




History


Paul Meshejian, an actor and director, created PlayPenn in 2005 after working at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Michele Volansky has been his artistic partner since the beginning as associate artist and dramaturg. Meshejian said he wanted to create an encouraging space for writers, he told Jessica Foley of American Theatre (magazine) in 2015. "We'll feed you, provide lodging, so you ... can just write your play."
While PlayPenn's main goal is to nurture new plays, not necessarily to lead them to productions, PlayPenn scripts have become full productions at many Philadelphia theaters, as well as at other theaters around the country.
In 2014, PlayPenn began entering into partnerships with theater companies to help guide plays through the last phases of development before a formal production. The organization began by pairing with the Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey to shepherd the play The House That Jack Built by Suzanne Bradbeer.
In 2018, PlayPenn artistic director Paul Meshejian was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre.
In 2019, supported by a meaningful gift from Leonard Haas and the Wyncote Foundation, PlayPenn established the Haas Fellows Program, honoring each of its six Conference playwrights with the title "Haas Fellow" into the unforeseeable future.
In 2020/2021, the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements created a sense of urgency for the PlayPenn board to begin the process-oriented work of refreshing PlayPenn's values. The group was composed of artists, academics, and professionals from varied disciplines and represented multiple perspectives and viewpoints including Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+ people, and artists who have children. These values guide PlayPenn’s artistic and administrative choices.
In December, 2021, PlayPenn welcomed new leadership. Che’Rae Adams was brought in as the new Artistic Director, as well as two Associate Artistic Directors, Susan Dalian and Santiago Iacinti. All three leaders are new play development proficients from historically marginalized communities. The new leadership committed to maintaining PlayPenn as a new play development hub in Philadelphia that supports playwrights from communities who have been historically marginalized.
In 2023, PlayPenn introduced a new professional development initiative called The Playwrights Cohort at PlayPenn, which serves twenty nine playwrights from Philadelphia. The members of the Cohort meet once a month and are introduced to professionals who can advise them on the business aspects of being a writer. With the addition of the Cohort, along with the partnership with The Foundry, Foundry Graduate Readings and three Independent Workshops, PlayPenn serves more writers annually than ever before.
PlayPenn playwrights and plays have received several awards, publications and other theatre recognition, including:
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: James Ijames (Fat Ham, PlayPenn 2013 & 2015)
Tony Award for Best Play: J.T. Rogers (Oslo, PlayPenn 2010)
Drama Desk Award & Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play: Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, PlayPenn 2010)
Yale-Horn Drama Prize: Jacqueline Goldfinger (PlayPenn, 2011, 2017)
Whiting Award: Sheila Callaghan (PlayPenn 2005), James Ijames (PlayPenn 2013, 2015), Antoinette Nwandu (PlayPenn 2016)
MacArthur Fellowship: Samuel D. Hunter (PlayPenn 2010)
Guggenheim Fellowship: Jordan Harrison (PlayPenn 2005), J.T. Rogers (PlayPenn 2005, 2009, 2015)
The Killroy’s List: Lindsay Joelle (PlayPenn 2018)
IDEA Ollie New Play Award: Dave Harris (PlayPenn 2019)
Independence Fellowship: Jacqueline Goldfinger (PlayPenn 2011, 2017)
Lilly Award for Playwriting: Lucy Thurber (PlayPenn 2005)
IRNE Award for Best Play: Jennifer Barclay (PlayPenn 2018)
Paula Vogel Playwriting Award: Antoinette Nwandu (PlayPenn 2016)
Pew Fellowship: Katharine Clark Gray (PlayPenn 2008), James Ijames (PlayPenn 2013, 2015)
Sky Cooper Prize for American Playwriting: Samuel D. Hunter (PlayPenn 2010), Martin Zimmerman (PlayPenn 2012)
David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize: Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (PlayPenn 2009), Meghan Kennedy (PlayPenn 2015), Emily Schwend (PlayPenn 2014)
Smith Prize: Jacqueline Goldfinger (PlayPenn, 2011, 2017)
American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award: Mia McCullough (PlayPenn 2012), Jonathan James Norton (PlayPenn 2012)
American Theatre Critics Association Primus Award: Jennifer Haley (PlayPenn 2008), Lauren Yee (PlayPenn 2011), Stefanie Zadravec (PlayPenn 2011)
Blackburn Prize: Jennifer Haley (PlayPenn 2008)
Terrence McNally New Play Award: James Ijames (White, 2015)
Barrymore Award for Best New Play: R. Eric Thomas (Time is on Our Side, PlayPenn 2015), Michael Hollinger (Ghost-Writer, PlayPenn 2009), Jacqueline Goldfinger (Slip/Shot, PlayPenn 2011)
Top 10 Plays, New York Times: J.T. Rogers (Oslo, PlayPenn 2015; Blood and Gifts, PlayPenn 2009; The Overwhelming, PlayPenn 2005)
Top 10 Plays, Time Magazine: (Oslo, PlayPenn 2015; Blood and Gifts, PlayPenn 2009; The Overwhelming, PlayPenn 2005)




Conferences


For the 2018 PlayPenn conference, over 800 playwrights applied and six were chosen for workshops and free public readings. The conference also includes readings of up to three additional theatrical works in progress, along with forums where participants discuss issues related to new-play development.




Playwrights and plays


Plays developed by PlayPenn, 2005-present
2019

Archipelago by Amy Witting
Buffalo Bill or How To Be A Good Man by Meghan Kennedy
Cave Canem by A. Emmanuel Leadon
Esther Choi and the Fish that Drowned by Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters
Homeridae by A.Z. Espinoza
How a Boy Falls by Steven Dietz
Incendiary by Dave Harris
Strange Men by Will Snider
The Haunted Life by Sean Daniels adapted from the novel by Jack Kerouac
The Piper by Kate Hamill
Wayfinding by Whitney Rowland
2018

Bruise & Thorn by J. Julian Christopher (now C. Julian Jimenez)
Dimenticar by Mattie Hawkinson
Down in the Holler by Val Dunn
Honor Flight by Willy Holtzman
Joan by Stephen Belber
Kids Drop (Off) by Dominic Anthony Taylor
Ripe Frenzy by Jennifer Barclay
Tha Chink-Mart by Ray Yamanouchi
The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle
TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever by James Ijames
You, The Fire, and Me by Sevan K. Greene
2017

Bobby James by Anne Marie Cammarato
Bottle Fly by Jacqueline Goldfinger
Galilee by Christine Evans
Hard Cell by Brent Askari
House of the Negro Insane by Terence Anthony
Pancake Queen by Brie Knight
penny candy by Jonathan James Norton
Replica by Mickey Fisher
Thirst by C.A. Johnson
Welcome to Fear City by Kara Lee Corthron
With by Carter W. Lewis
2016

Another Kind of Silence by Lauren Feldman
Flat Sam by Antoinette Nwandu
Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean
Heavenly Cosmic by Meghan Kennedy
Poor Edward by Jonathan Payne
The Found Dog Ribbon Dance by Dominic Finocchiaro
Sensitive Guys by MJ Kaufman
Suicide Jockey by Lena Barnard
2015

Giantess by Genne Murphy
Human Error by Eric Pfeffinger
Oslo by J.T. Rogers
Prince Max’s Trewly Awful Trip to the Desolat Interior by Ellen Struve
White by James Ijames
Widower by David J. Jacobi
War Stories by Richard Dresser
r/LYPSE: a subreddit of our dark lips and heart by Brian Grace-Duff
Shitheads by Douglas Williams
2014

The Dizzy Little Dance of Russell DiFinaldi by Stephen Belber
A Scar by Anne Marie Cammarato
Behind the Motel by Emily Schwend
Wild Blue by Jen Silverman
Cattle Barn, Hoochie Coo by Davey Strattan White
Mr. Wheeler’s by Rob Zellers
Moon Cave by Douglas Williams
Honor Flight by Willy Holtzman
The House That Jack Built by Suzanne Bradbeer
2013

The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington by James Ijames
Cockfight by Peter Gil-Sheridan
Informed Consent by Deborah Zoe Laufer
No Such Thing by Lisa Dillman
Profiles by Joe Waechter
Terminus by Gabriel Jason Dean
Uncanny Valley by Thomas Gibbons
The First Mrs. Rochester by Willy Holtzman
2012

A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World by Liz Duffy Adams
G.O.B. by Willy Holtzman
Too Much, Too Much, Too Many by Meghan Kennedy
Household Spirits by Mia McCullough
My Tidy List of Terrors by Jonathan James Norton
Seven Spots on the Sun by Martin Zimmerman
The Three Christs of Manhattan by Seth Rozin
Barcelona by Bess Wohl
2011

The Hatmaker’s Wife formerly A Man, His Wife, and His Hat by Lauren Yee
American Wee-Pie by Lisa Dillman
Another Girl by John Yearley
Nerine by Brian Quirk
Slip/Shot by Jacqueline Goldfinger
The Electric Baby by Stefanie Zadravec
Chasing Waves by Quinn Eli
At the Edge of a Promised Land by Jesse Bernstein
2010

Clementine in the Lower Nine by Dan Dietz
Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night by Kara Lee Corthron
Hum by Nicholas Wardigo
Love and Communication by James J. Christy
Raising Jo by Charlotte Miller
The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter
Imagining Madoff by Deb Margolin
The Outgoing Tide by Bruce Graham
Cowboy/Indian by Matt Ocks
Some Other Kind of Person by Eric R. Pfeffinger
2009

410 Gone by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
Appetite by Arden Kass
Blood and Gifts by J.T. Rogers
Ghost-Writer by Michael Hollinger
The Specificity of Paradise by John Orlock
We Three by Mary Hamilton
The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman
Two Jews Walk Into a War by Seth Rozin
2008

Another Man’s Son by Silva Semerciyan
Breadcrumbs by Jennifer Haley
A Human Equation by Peter Bonilla
House of Gold by Gregory Moss
Saving Grace (now entitled Salvation) by James McClindon
Wildflower by Lila Rose Kaplan
Dear Brutus by Jeffrey Hatcher
Any Given Monday by Bruce Graham
The Beef by Katie Grey
2007

The Rant by Andrew Case
The Day of the Picnic by Russell Davis
After Adam by Christina Ham
Militant Language by Sean Christopher Lewis
There or Here by Jennifer Maisel
My Name is Asher Lev by Aaron Posner
Carlo vs. Carlo by Aaron Cromie
Bubu the Terrible by Rick DesRochers
2006

A Scream by Gina Barnett
Bad for the Jews by Peter Morris
Malignancy by Eric R. Pfeffinger
Scarcity by Lucy Thurber
2005

We Are Not These Hands by Sheila Callaghan
Act a Lady by Jordan Harrison
The Overwhelming by J.T. Rogers
On Clarion by Lydia Stryk




See also


Culture of Philadelphia




References






External links


Official website

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• PlayPenn
• The Whale (play)
• Martin Zimmerman
• Stephen Belber
• James Ijames
• Willy Holtzman
• Jennifer Haley
• Oslo (play)
• Sheila Callaghan
• Lila Rose Kaplan