Actor's Theatre of Louisville's production of Edith. Photo by Michael Brosilow

About this Photo

A. Rey Pamatmat's EDITH CAN SHOOT THINGS AND HIT THEM at Actor's Theatre of Louisville

What Playwrights Say About NNPN

“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, Emerging Playwright 2009, The Toymaker's War

Contacting NNPN

National New Play Network
Jason Loewith, Executive Director
c/o Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D Street NW
Washington, DC 20004

Phone: 202-312-5270
Fax: 202-289-2446
Email Jason Loewith Here

 

NNPN Staff

Jason Loewith (Executive Director) joined the National New Play Network in March, 2009, and recently completed work on the organization's vision and long range plan. He works closely with the Network's 26 member theaters to strategize and implement innovative collaborations in support of new plays and American playwrights.

As a writer himself, Jason won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Jeff and After Dark Awards for Best New Musical for Adding Machine: A Musical, which he co-wrote with composer Joshua Schmidt. He produced the world premiere at Chicago’s Next Theatre Company in 2007, where he served as Artistic Director from 2002-2008. That production went on to a six-month commercial run Off-Broadway in 2008, winning four OBIE Awards for direction, design and performance.

For Next Theatre Company, he shepherded more than 20 productions to the stage, including five plays in world premieres or workshops. His programming twice received the After Dark Award for Outstanding Season (03-04 and 05-06), and work that he directed or produced won multiple Jeff, After Dark, and Black Theatre Alliance Awards and received critical accolades from Chicagoland's major media outlets. Jason increased Next's budget from $168,000 to $700,000, retiring $100,000 of inherited debt and quadrupling subscriptions and the Board of Directors along the way. After extensive training in long-term planning from the New Artistic Leadership Institute and TCG's Mellon/Duke New Generations program at Chicago’s Court Theatre, he created and implemented two strategic plans for Next Theatre, which led to triple-digit subscription and contributed income growth. During his years in Chicago, Jason also created successful multi-theatre collaborations like the Boeing-funded North Shore Live!, and served as Executive Producer of Chicagoland's participation in Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays Festival, bringing free new plays to more than 7,000 patrons between 2006 and 2007.

Since moving to Washington in 2009, Jason has directed plays at DC's Studio Theatre and Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE; his upcoming directorial work includes the world premiere of Janece Shaffer's Broke at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta in the fall.

Prior to his leadership roles in Chicago, Jason served five years as General Manager of Classic Stage Company Off-Broadway.  He holds an AB from Brown University and MA in Dramatic Arts from the University of California in Santa Barbara.

 

Jojo Ruf (General Manager) joined the National New Play Network in January of 2010 as the Staff Associate and became the General Manager in August, 2011.

She is a Teaching Artist for Ford’s Theatre, and works with Arena Stage, the Kennedy Center, Theater J, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival, the Lark Play Development Center, Welders Theatre, and Georgetown University as a freelance producer and director.

She has directed the world premiere of Tree House (Welders Theatre), the DC premiere of The Pull of Negative Gravity (Welders Theatre) and Translations (Georgetown University) and assistant directed the world premiere of Wisconsin Death Trip (GU), a new adaptation of Six Characters in Search of an Author (GU), and the DC premiere of In Darfur (Theater J). In 2010 Jojo assistant directed and co-adapted In Search of Duende: The Ballad of Federico Garcia Lorca as part of the UNESCO/ITI World Festival of Theater Schools in Peru, and represented Georgetown as the lone US delegation among representatives from dozens of the world's leading theater academies. Jojo recently served as the Coordinating Producer for the Tennessee Williams Centennial Festival, presented by Georgetown University and Arena Stage. She graduated from Georgetown University in 2008 with a degree in English and Theater and Performance Studies, and was part of the first graduating class of Theater majors.