NNPN LAUNCHES PILOT PROJECTS OF NEW
EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS RESIDENCY PROGRAM

In Fall 2007, NNPN launched three pilot projects of its newest program, Emerging Playwright Residencies (EPR), a program in which NNPN offers a modest stipend to emerging writers graduating from qualified MFA playwriting programs who are chosen to be sponsored by NNPN member theatres for a period of one season. During the 2007/2008 pilot year, InterAct Theatre Company in Philadelphia, PA hosts Sean Christopher Lewis, a graduate from University of Iowa's MFA Playwrights Workshop; New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, MA hosts Meron Langsner, a graduate of Brandeis University; and Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey in Madison, NJ hosts Brett Williams, a graduate of Rutgers.

Currently, when graduates leave their playwriting programs they go out into the world with virtually no connections to professional theatres and little opportunity for continued artistic advancement. Many of these young playwrights move, by default, to New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, where they compete with thousands of other writers struggling to establish their careers and personal lives. Through EPR, which is similar in structure to a post-graduate fellowship, each participating member theatre sponsors an emerging resident playwright, selected for their talent, artistic vision, and interest in the type of work being produced by the theatre. The theatre provides the resident playwright with an artistic home for a year, while the playwright participates in the day-to-day life of that theatre. 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 resources and facilities for writing and developing their plays. Playwrights also gain entrée into the professional theatre community. The participating theatres, in turn, add a new member to their company 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 administrative, development and artistic experience while developing long-lasting relationships with the theatres and the theatre communities they have become invested in, which, in turn, will develop those same strong ties with the playwrights.