END DAYS by Deborah Laufer
AFTERLIFE : A GHOST STORY by Steve Yockey
COLLAPSE by Allison Moore
JERICHO by Jack Canfora
YANKEE TAVERN by Steven Dietz

“In an industry as competitive, as unstable, and as personal as theater, the acknowledgment from a national body of professional theaters that the Emerging Playwright Residency gives a young writer is invaluable.”

-Jennifer Fawcett, Playwright-in-Residence 2009

“NNPN not only lives up to its mission of championing ‘the development, production, and continued life of new plays,’ but also champions the authors of those new plays in the long journey from page to stage.”

-John Biguenet, Rising Water, Shotgun

“I was and remain deeply honored and encouraged by the Smith Prize… I love that the prize is awarded to a script and not a production… I love that NNPN is working against premiere-itis.”

-Y York, 2008 Smith Prizewinner, ...And LA is Burning

“[NNPN’s] professional network is as vital (and unique) as the artistic support -- I've not found any other group that offers both.”

-Eric Coble, For Better

“I can't say enough about the impact the Continued Life Program had on my play. That elusive and desirable thing called 'buzz' that consecutive productions can create… very much became the case for Love Person. Three productions grew to six thanks to NNPN.”

-Aditi Brennan Kapil

“The National New Play Network is so vital and necessary - one of those really bright ideas - that one wonders why it took so long for theaters to get together and create it.”

-Yussef El Guindi, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes

 

 

“The Smith Prize was a great shot in the arm for me. It served as a valuable affirmation from my peers that my work is both of a high quality and exploring important issues. ”

-Seth Rozin, 2007 Smith Prizewinner, Black Gold

“NNPN really acts as a new play grapevine. Because member theaters are in regular contact, they get to know each theater's mission and tastes and a recommendation from one member to another is much more meaningful. Those relationships have helped my work find a home. ”

-Allison Moore, Hazard County, Collapse
 

“[CLNPF] secures for the playwright not simply a 'product' (the premiere) – but a process (the ongoing series of productions)... The model – giving several theatres a crack at a new work, giving a writer several chances at their revisions – is a godsend."

-Steven Dietz, Yankee Tavern

 

"The generosity and vitality of this unique and much needed organization ultimately benefits playwrights, theatres, audiences and the culture."

-David Rambo, The Ice Breaker

Accomplishments

Since its founding in 1998, the National New Play Network has

Presented 51 plays as part of the MFA Playwrights Workshop at the Kennedy Center

Commissioned eighteen playwrights.

Mounted nearly one hundred new-play readings as part of its National Showcase of New Plays, more than 80% of which have gone on to full productions both within and outside of the Network.

Provided nineteen MFA graduates with paid residencies

Administered one of the best-funded new play prizes in the country

Supported 99 productions nationwide of 31 plays through its innovative Continued Life of New Plays Fund, which creates “Rolling World Premieres” of new plays.  Those plays have gone on to nearly 150 additional productions in cities across the country.

Many of these writers and plays have gone on to prestigious lives beyond the Network, garnering Pulitzer, Steinberg, Obie Award and Blackburn Prize nominations, as well as dozens of productions across the globe. All told, hundreds of artists have gained employment through these and other efforts in the 24 regions of the country where NNPN member theaters are currently located.