Playwrights-in-Residence

Currently, when MFA playwriting students leave their programs, they go into the world with virtually no connections to professional theaters and little opportunity for continued artistic advancement. Many of these young playwrights move, by default, to New York or Los Angeles, where they compete with thousands of other writers struggling to establish themselves. Through the Playwrights in Residence program, each participating member theater sponsors an emerging playwright selected for his or her talent, artistic vision, and interest in the type of work being produced by the theater. The theater provides the resident playwright with an artistic home for a season, while the playwright participates in the life of that theater. Playwrights have direct access to the artistic staff (artistic director, literary manager and/or dramaturg) for mentoring and dramaturgical consultation, as well as access to administrative and facility resources for writing and developing plays. Playwrights also gain entrée into the professional theater community. The participating theaters, in turn, add a new member to the staff who may participate in literary management, production, fundraising, outreach and audience development activities. Over time, it is the expectation that many of these playwrights will gain real world experience while developing long-lasting relations with the theaters and the community in which they have become invested.  Since its inception in 2007, the program has funded nineteen Playwrights-in-Residence.