The application window for PlayPenn's 2012 Conference has closed. Thanks for your interest and we encourage
you to check back in late August of next year for application guidelines to our 2013 Conference.


For complete 2011 conference information click here

WHAT IS PLAYPENN?

PlayPenn is an artist-driven organization dedicated to improving the way in which new plays are developed. Employing an ever-evolving process, PlayPenn creates a relaxed tension within which playwrights can engage in risk-taking, boundary-pushing work free from the pressures of commercial consideration. PlayPenn gives time and attention to playwrights from around the nation whose work is poised for a developmental workshop environment. Each summer PlayPenn hosts a two-week conference, inviting playwrights to develop new plays in a collaborative workshop environment. In order to encourage active revision and rewriting during the period of the conference, PlayPenn provides professional actors, directors, designers and dramaturgs with space, technical and administrative resources and ample time to use them. The process culminates in a series of staged readings to be presented to members of the local, regional and national professional theatre communities and to the community at large.

PlayPenn is a new play development conference. The goal of the conference is the development of plays, through a process of collaboration, experimentation, rehearsal and rewriting rather than fully realized productions of finished works. We like to think of what we do as “development heaven”. By focusing on playwrights’ needs, PlayPenn makes the fundamental work of the theatre possible without the constraints and pressures of production, promotion and commercial concerns.

 



With an interest in streamlining our application and evaluation process, minimizing administrative costs, and functioning in the most ecologically sound manner possible, PlayPenn is now using LiteraryManager.org. As a database system for accepting applications, disseminating scripts to readers and collecting evaluations it has been a great boon to our extensive process of applicant consideration. Our workload is less and productivity is up.



PlayPenn is a member of the
Philadelphia Theatre Alliance


LINKS


Chicago DramatistsThe Dramatists Guild
La MaMa International Playwright Retreat
Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the The Americas
The MacDowell Colony
The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center
National New Play Network
New Dramatists
New Jersey Dramatists
Philadelphia Dramatists Center
Philadelphia Young Playwrights
PlayPenn
Playscripts, Inc
Ojai Playwrights Conference
The Playwrights' Center
The Playwrights' Foundation
Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey
Sewanee Writers Conference
Sundance
WordBRIDGE Yaddo



website design & graphics: Sarah Hunt