Actors in a 2024 PlayPenn reading. (Photo by James Kern Photography)
PHILADELPHIA: PlayPenn, a national new-play development center based in Philadelphia, will hold a reimagined 2025 New Play Development Conference with an expanded, citywide model. The conference will take place July 5-20.
For nearly two decades, PlayPenn has been a cornerstone of new-play development, providing a vital platform for playwrights to create, collaborate, and connect. This year, the conference extends its reach beyond a single location to bring new plays into communities across four Philadelphia County districts, thanks to a groundbreaking collaboration with InterAct Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Power Street Theatre, Theatre in the X and the Wilma Theater. The collaboration aims to foster greater sustainability in the arts by sharing resources and expanding audiences.
“As giants in the new-play development field, like Sundance Theater Lab, The Lark and the Humana Festival have disappeared, the need for PlayPenn’s work has never been more urgent,” said Che’Rae Adams, PlayPenn artistic director, in a statement. “For nearly two decades, our New Play Development Conference has been a vital incubator for playwrights, ensuring that bold new voices continue to shape the future of theatre.”
“By expanding our conference citywide and forging meaningful artistic partnerships, we are deepening our commitment to fostering new voices and ensuring that the future of theatre is representative, sustainable and inclusive,” Adams continued. “Philadelphia should take great pride in being home to one of the few institutions still championing this work: supporting playwrights, enriching audiences, and strengthening the national theatrical landscape.”
This year’s New Play Development Conference plays, selected from nearly 200 submissions across the mid-Atlantic region, explore urgent themes through innovative storytelling, and will receive intensive development with leading artistic teams. Resident playwrights’ works include:
- Ama. Egg. Oyá. by Lori Felipe-Barkin, a powerful exploration of infertility, motherhood, and the fierce determination to have a child, blending Santería, modern-day Miami, and Cuban rhythms. Power Street Theatre will be its partner theatre.
- Hand Foot Hand by L M Feldman, an intimate and raw portrait of three aging aerialists navigating love, loss, and the uncertainty of mid-career artistry. The Wilma Theater will be its partner theatre.
- Harlem Canary/Tokyo Crow by Andrew Saito, a satirical comedy about WWII’s “Negro Propaganda Operations,” in which captured African American POWs were forced to record radio plays comparing racial freedoms in Japan and the U.S. Theatre in the X will be its partner theatre.
These playwrights will be in residence for two weeks, with each of their outstanding works undergoing intensive rehearsals, culminating in two staged public readings. Each play will be paired with one of PlayPenn’s partner theatres and their artistic teams, providing invaluable guidance, feedback, and resources. Additionally, PlayPenn recognizes seven finalists:
- 1898 or How Sugar Conquered The Enchantment by Nelson Diaz-Marcano
- The Ancestry Dot Com Play by Alyssa Haddad-Chin
- Ceremony by Dave Ebersole
- Greetings From The Red Planet by Natalie Valentine
- Novios by Arturo Luíz Soria
- The Single Rain Drop by Zachariah Ezer
- X#*! YOU VERY MUCH, MOM by Đavid Lee Huỳnh
For more information on the 2025 PlayPenn New Play Development Conference, including Foundry First Spark Readings, the Young Playwright reading and more, visit their website.
