PlayPenn is a new play development conference located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Che'Rae Adams is the Artistic Director, along with Associate Artistic Directors, Susan Dalian and Santiago Iacinti. PlayPenn works with playwrights to develop new plays in a collaborative and supportive workshop environment.[1]
Since PlayPenn's first conference in 2005, the organization has been hosting annual July conferences in Philadelphia, where invited playwrights work with actors, directors, dramaturgs and designers to rehearse, revise and develop their new scripts in workshops. The conference includes free public readings of the plays, as well as forums and symposia.[2]
PlayPenn has helped develop over 150 new plays, 60% of which have become over 350 full productions at theater companies in the United States and abroad.[3] Playwrights who have workshopped scripts at PlayPenn include Jeffrey Hatcher, Deb Margolin, Aaron Posner, Michael Hollinger, Samuel D. Hunter, J.T. Rogers, and Lauren Yee. In 2017, PlayPenn saw the first of its plays to go to Broadway, J.T. Rogers' Oslo, which won the Tony Award for Best Play.
PlayPenn supports playwrights through The Foundry, its three-year membership program to support emerging playwrights in Philadelphia with professional development, networking opportunities, and exposure. PlayPenn also offers classes and workshops during other months throughout the year, as well as consultations and support for playwrights from dramaturgs and editors.
Paul Meshejian, an actor and director, created PlayPenn in 2005 after working at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Michele Volansky has been his artistic partner since the beginning as associate artist and dramaturg. Meshejian said he wanted to create an encouraging space for writers, he told Jessica Foley of American Theatre (magazine) in 2015. "We'll feed you, provide lodging, so you ... can just write your play."[4]
While PlayPenn's main goal is to nurture new plays, not necessarily to lead them to productions, PlayPenn scripts have become full productions at many Philadelphia theaters,[5] as well as at other theaters around the country.[6]
In 2014, PlayPenn began entering into partnerships with theater companies to help guide plays through the last phases of development before a formal production. The organization began by pairing with the Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey to shepherd the play The House That Jack Built by Suzanne Bradbeer.[7]
In 2018, PlayPenn artistic director Paul Meshejian was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre.
In 2019, supported by a meaningful gift from Leonard Haas and the Wyncote Foundation, PlayPenn established the Haas Fellows Program, honoring each of its six Conference playwrights with the title "Haas Fellow" into the unforeseeable future.[8]
In 2020/2021, the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements created a sense of urgency for the PlayPenn board to begin the process-oriented work of refreshing PlayPenn's values. The group was composed of artists, academics, and professionals from varied disciplines and represented multiple perspectives and viewpoints including Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+ people, and artists who have children. These values guide PlayPenn’s artistic and administrative choices.
In December, 2021, PlayPenn welcomed new leadership. Che’Rae Adams was brought in as the new Artistic Director, as well as two Associate Artistic Directors, Susan Dalian and Santiago Iacinti. All three leaders are new play development proficients from historically marginalized communities. The new leadership committed to maintaining PlayPenn as a new play development hub in Philadelphia that supports playwrights from communities who have been historically marginalized.
In 2023, PlayPenn introduced a new professional development initiative called The Playwrights Cohort at PlayPenn, which serves twenty nine playwrights from Philadelphia. The members of the Cohort meet once a month and are introduced to professionals who can advise them on the business aspects of being a writer. With the addition of the Cohort, along with the partnership with The Foundry, Foundry Graduate Readings and three Independent Workshops, PlayPenn serves more writers annually than ever before.
PlayPenn playwrights and plays have received several awards, publications and other theatre recognition, including:
Pulitzer Prize for Drama: James Ijames (Fat Ham, PlayPenn 2013 & 2015)
Tony Award for Best Play: J.T. Rogers (Oslo, PlayPenn 2010)
Drama Desk Award & Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play: Samuel D. Hunter (The Whale, PlayPenn 2010)
Yale-Horn Drama Prize: Jacqueline Goldfinger (PlayPenn, 2011, 2017)
Whiting Award: Sheila Callaghan (PlayPenn 2005), James Ijames (PlayPenn 2013, 2015), Antoinette Nwandu (PlayPenn 2016)
MacArthur Fellowship: Samuel D. Hunter (PlayPenn 2010)
Guggenheim Fellowship: Jordan Harrison (PlayPenn 2005), J.T. Rogers (PlayPenn 2005, 2009, 2015)
The Killroy’s List: Lindsay Joelle (PlayPenn 2018)
IDEA Ollie New Play Award: Dave Harris (PlayPenn 2019)
Independence Fellowship: Jacqueline Goldfinger (PlayPenn 2011, 2017)
Lilly Award for Playwriting: Lucy Thurber (PlayPenn 2005)
IRNE Award for Best Play: Jennifer Barclay (PlayPenn 2018)
Paula Vogel Playwriting Award: Antoinette Nwandu (PlayPenn 2016)
Pew Fellowship: Katharine Clark Gray (PlayPenn 2008), James Ijames (PlayPenn 2013, 2015)
Sky Cooper Prize for American Playwriting: Samuel D. Hunter (PlayPenn 2010), Martin Zimmerman (PlayPenn 2012)
David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize: Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (PlayPenn 2009), Meghan Kennedy (PlayPenn 2015), Emily Schwend (PlayPenn 2014)
Smith Prize: Jacqueline Goldfinger (PlayPenn, 2011, 2017)
American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award: Mia McCullough (PlayPenn 2012), Jonathan James Norton (PlayPenn 2012)
American Theatre Critics Association Primus Award: Jennifer Haley (PlayPenn 2008), Lauren Yee (PlayPenn 2011), Stefanie Zadravec (PlayPenn 2011)
Blackburn Prize: Jennifer Haley (PlayPenn 2008)
Terrence McNally New Play Award: James Ijames (White, 2015)
Barrymore Award for Best New Play: R. Eric Thomas (Time is on Our Side, PlayPenn 2015), Michael Hollinger (Ghost-Writer, PlayPenn 2009), Jacqueline Goldfinger (Slip/Shot, PlayPenn 2011)
Top 10 Plays, New York Times: J.T. Rogers (Oslo, PlayPenn 2015; Blood and Gifts, PlayPenn 2009; The Overwhelming, PlayPenn 2005)
Top 10 Plays, Time Magazine: (Oslo, PlayPenn 2015; Blood and Gifts, PlayPenn 2009; The Overwhelming, PlayPenn 2005)
For the 2018 PlayPenn conference, over 800 playwrights applied and six were chosen for workshops and free public readings.[9] The conference also includes readings of up to three additional theatrical works in progress, along with forums where participants discuss issues related to new-play development.
Plays developed by PlayPenn, 2005-present[10]
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005