PlayPenn
PlayPenn is a new play development conference located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Paul Meshejian is the artistic director of the organization, which works with playwrights to develop new plays in a collaborative workshop environment.[1]
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.[2]
PlayPenn has helped develop 87 new plays, most of which have become full productions at theater companies in the United States and abroad.[3] Playwrights who have workshopped scripts at PlayPenn include Jeffrey Hatcher, Deb Margolin, Aaron Posner, Michael Hollinger, J.T. Rogers and Lauren Yee. PlayPenn also offers classes and workshops during other months of 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."[4]
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,[5] as well as at other theaters around the country.[6]
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.[7]
Conferences
For the 2015 PlayPenn conference, about 750 playwrights applied and six were chosen for workshops and free public readings.[8] The conference also includes readings of up to three theatrical works in progress, along with forums and a symposium where participants discuss issues related to new-play development.
Playwrights and plays
Plays developed by PlayPenn, 2005-2015[9]
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 of the Sun by Martin Zimmerman
- The Three Christs of Manhattan by Seth Rozin
- Barcelona by Bess Wohl
2011
- The Hatmaker’s Wife 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 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
- Malignance by Eric 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
References
- ↑ Foley, Jessica (2015-07-20). "PlayPenn, Where the Playwright's In Charge". American Theatre. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ Cofta, Mark (2014-07-18). "Experience new play development firsthand with PlayPenn this summer". Philadelphia CityPaper. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ "Our Mission & History". PlayPenn official website. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
- ↑ Foley, Jessica (2015-07-20). "PlayPenn, Where the Playwright's In Charge". American Theatre. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ Cofta, Mark (2014-07-18). "Experience new play development firsthand with PlayPenn this summer". Philadelphia CityPaper. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ Rosenfield, Wendy (2009-01-29). "At PlayPenn, hard work of making theater". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ Wrappe, Megan (2014-11-10). "Room for More in PlayPenn". American Theatre. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ Stern, Marissa (2015-07-22). "A Play in Progress Pulls Back the Curtain on Oslo Accord". Jewish Exponent. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ↑ "Our Playwrights". PlayPenn official website. Retrieved 2015-07-30.