NNPN: National Showcase of New Plays

From Thursday, November 29th to Sunday, December 2nd, I'll be attending and participating in National New Play Network's National Showcase of New Plays. I'm thrilled and honored to take part in this celebration of new plays and convening of passionate, talented and dedicated theatre artists.

Now, here's a bit of information about the National Showcase:
"The National Showcase of New Plays is a rotating festival, or trade show, that showcases new plays, new playwrights and theaters from across the country in a staged reading format. By crowd-sourcing the dramaturgical expertise of our wide membership, the Showcase creates a unique and invaluable opportunity for dozens of production-ready new plays to be viewed by artistic directors, literary managers, literary agents, publishers, and independent producers from around the country. To date, nearly 100 plays have been showcased, of which 80% have been subsequently produced at professional theaters inside and outside NNPN, garnering Pulitzer nominations, Steinberg Awards, and dozens of new-play citations in their local markets.

A nationwide panel of NNPN-affiliated artists has selected six extraordinary plays for this year's Showcase, its tenth installment:  Christina Anderson's BlackTop Sky, Carlos Murillo's Diagram of a Paper Airplane, Carson Kreitzer's Lasso of Truth, Steve Yockey's Pluto, Steven Dietz's Rancho Mirage, and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s The Totalitarians.  The 2012 Showcase will also feature two plays from Down Under as part of an exchange with PlayWriting Australia, that country's peak playwright-support organization: Every Second by Vanessa Bates and Moth by Declan Greene."

How exciting is that! New this year, NNPN commissioned four D.C. area playwrights to write podcast plays! You'll hear more from us on Wednesday. For now, here's what NNPN has to say about the work we've been doing:

"Need a break? Pick up an iPod Shuffle in the Woolly Mammoth lobby, walk out the door and press play to be taken on a 15-minute adventure through the neighborhood, written by one of Washington’s own extraordinary playwrights. Whether you head north or south, east or west, you’re sure to end up in a dramatically different place! North, South, East and West were commissioned by NNPN especially for Showcase guests, and are written by Paige Hernandez, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Stephen Spotswood and Gwydion Suilebhan."

WooHoo! On Sunday, we rehearsed and recorded my podcast play,  West - The Grand Gesture. I'll share more about all of that on Thursday. I've got some great pictures too!

There is no charge to attend the Showcase, but it is an invitation-only event for NNPN Core and Associate Members, Alumni Playwrights, Board, Ambassadors, special guests, and members of the host city's new-play community. And it's booked, but don't despair! For those of you unable to attend, I'm going to share a lot here about what we're doing.

Be sure to check back here for wonderfully insightful interviews from NNPN's Executive Director, Jason Loewith and General Manager, Jojo Ruf.

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