MFA Playwrights' Workshop

Since 2006, NNPN has presented a week-long summer workshop for recent plays of merit written by qualified MFA students. The program is presented annually in conjunction with the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival and Stanford University's National Center for New Plays, and pairs the selected writers with NNPN directors and freelance dramaturgs to provide them with a unique professional development opportunity and links to Network theaters.

The Workshop now links to more than 70 MFA programs across the country, and scripts developed at there have gone on to productions at NNPN member theaters well as nationally-recognized companies like the Actors' Theatre of Louisville/Humana Festival and the Roundabout Theatre Company. Featured writers often find their work represented later at the National Showcase of New Plays and the Continued Life of New Plays program. And five of the thirty-four alumni of the Workshop have gone on to Residencies with member theaters. The program thus serves as an ideal entry point to the new-play pipeline NNPN has tried to create for writers of promise entering the profession.