PlayPenn

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.

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.

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. 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.

History
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."

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, as well as at other theaters around the country.

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.

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.

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)

Conferences
For the 2018 PlayPenn conference, over 800 playwrights applied and six were chosen for workshops and free public readings. 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.

Playwrights and plays
Plays developed by PlayPenn, 2005-present

2019


 * Archipelago by Amy Witting
 * Buffalo Bill or How To Be A Good Man by Meghan Kennedy
 * Cave Canem by A. Emmanuel Leadon
 * Esther Choi and the Fish that Drowned by Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters
 * Homeridae by Alexandra Espinoza
 * How a Boy Falls by Steven Dietz
 * Incendiary by Dave Harris
 * Strange Men by Will Snider
 * The Haunted Life by Sean Daniels adapted from the novel by Jack Kerouac
 * The Piper by Kate Hamill
 * Wayfinding by Whitney Rowland

2018


 * Bruise & Thorn by J. Julian Christopher (now C. Julian Jimenez)
 * Dimenticar by Mattie Hawkinson
 * Down in the Holler by Val Dunn
 * Honor Flight by Willy Holtzman
 * Joan by Stephen Belber
 * Kids Drop (Off) by Dominic Anthony Taylor
 * Ripe Frenzy by Jennifer Barclay
 * Tha Chink-Mart by Ray Yamanouchi
 * The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle
 * TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever by James Ijames
 * You, The Fire, and Me by Sevan K. Greene

2017


 * Bobby James by Anne Marie Cammarato
 * Bottle Fly by Jacqueline Goldfinger
 * Galilee by Christine Evans
 * Hard Cell by Brent Askari
 * House of the Negro Insane by Terence Anthony
 * Pancake Queen by Brie Knight
 * penny candy by Jonathan James Norton
 * Replica by Mickey Fisher
 * Thirst by C.A. Johnson
 * Welcome to Fear City by Kara Lee Corthron
 * With by Carter W. Lewis

2016


 * Another Kind of Silence by Lauren Feldman
 * Flat Sam by Antoinette Nwandu
 * Heartland by Gabriel Jason Dean
 * Heavenly Cosmic by Meghan Kennedy
 * Poor Edward by Jonathan Payne
 * The Found Dog Ribbon Dance by Dominic Finocchiaro
 * Sensitive Guys by MJ Kaufman
 * Suicide Jockey by Lena Barnard

2015


 * Giantess by Genne Murphy
 * Human Error by Eric Pfeffinger
 * Oslo by J.T. Rogers
 * Prince Max’s Trewly Awful Trip to the Desolat Interior by Ellen Struve
 * White by James Ijames
 * Widower by David J. Jacobi
 * War Stories by Richard Dresser
 * r/LYPSE: a subreddit of our dark lips and heart by Brian Grace-Duff
 * Shitheads by Douglas Williams

2014


 * The Dizzy Little Dance of Russell DiFinaldi by Stephen Belber
 * A Scar by Anne Marie Cammarato
 * Behind the Motel by Emily Schwend
 * Wild Blue by Jen Silverman
 * Cattle Barn, Hoochie Coo by Davey Strattan White
 * Mr. Wheeler’s by Rob Zellers
 * Moon Cave by Douglas Williams
 * Honor Flight by Willy Holtzman
 * The House That Jack Built by Suzanne Bradbeer

2013


 * The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington by James Ijames
 * Cockfight by Peter Gil-Sheridan
 * Informed Consent by Deborah Zoe Laufer
 * No Such Thing by Lisa Dillman
 * Profiles by Joe Waechter
 * Terminus by Gabriel Jason Dean
 * Uncanny Valley by Thomas Gibbons
 * The First Mrs. Rochester by Willy Holtzman

2012


 * A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World by Liz Duffy Adams
 * G.O.B. by Willy Holtzman
 * Too Much, Too Much, Too Many by Meghan Kennedy
 * Household Spirits by Mia McCullough
 * My Tidy List of Terrors by Jonathan James Norton
 * Seven Spots on the Sun by Martin Zimmerman
 * The Three Christs of Manhattan by Seth Rozin
 * Barcelona by Bess Wohl

2011


 * The Hatmaker’s Wife formerly A Man, His Wife, and His Hat by Lauren Yee
 * American Wee-Pie by Lisa Dillman
 * Another Girl by John Yearley
 * Nerine by Brian Quirk
 * Slip/Shot by Jacqueline Goldfinger
 * The Electric Baby by Stefanie Zadravec
 * Chasing Waves by Quinn Eli
 * At the Edge of a Promised Land by Jesse Bernstein

2010


 * Clementine in the Lower Nine by Dan Dietz
 * Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night by Kara Lee Corthron
 * Hum by Nicholas Wardigo
 * Love and Communication by James J. Christy
 * Raising Jo by Charlotte Miller
 * The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter
 * Imagining Madoff by Deb Margolin
 * The Outgoing Tide by Bruce Graham
 * Cowboy/Indian by Matt Ocks
 * Some Other Kind of Person by Eric R. Pfeffinger

2009


 * 410 Gone by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
 * Appetite by Arden Kass
 * Blood and Gifts by J.T. Rogers
 * Ghost-Writer by Michael Hollinger
 * The Specificity of Paradise by John Orlock
 * We Three by Mary Hamilton
 * The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman
 * Two Jews Walk Into a War by Seth Rozin

2008


 * Another Man’s Son by Silva Semerciyan
 * Breadcrumbs by Jennifer Haley
 * A Human Equation by Peter Bonilla
 * House of Gold by Gregory Moss
 * Saving Grace (now entitled Salvation) by James McClindon
 * Wildflower by Lila Rose Kaplan
 * Dear Brutus by Jeffrey Hatcher
 * Any Given Monday by Bruce Graham
 * The Beef by Katie Grey

2007


 * The Rant by Andrew Case
 * The Day of the Picnic by Russell Davis
 * After Adam by Christina Ham
 * Militant Language by Sean Christopher Lewis
 * There or Here by Jennifer Maisel
 * My Name is Asher Lev by Aaron Posner
 * Carlo vs. Carlo by Aaron Cromie
 * Bubu the Terrible by Rick DesRochers

2006


 * A Scream by Gina Barnett
 * Bad for the Jews by Peter Morris
 * Malignancy by Eric R. Pfeffinger
 * Scarcity by Lucy Thurber

2005


 * We Are Not These Hands by Sheila Callaghan
 * Act a Lady by Jordan Harrison
 * The Overwhelming by J.T. Rogers
 * On Clarion by Lydia Stryk