New Dramatists was the nation’s leading service organization for supporting playwrights. The organization’s most notable service was providing seven-year residencies for up to 50 playwrights at any given time. In the early 2000s new play development became more popular in the field, as the number of formal development programs within theaters increased as well as support from institutional funders.
While this trend seemed favorable for playwrights, Todd London, the Artistic Director of New Dramatists, noticed problems in the current new play development model led by producing theaters: the playwrights’ compensation for their work was too little to make a living, the development processes took years to complete, and theaters could not produce the majority of commissions that they initiated, to name a few of the issues. As its mission was to support playwrights, New Dramatists felt pressed to address these issues and change the current model of new play development within theater organizations.
Publication Date: 2016-07-13Suggested Citation: Sooyoung Hwang, "New Dramatists (2008)," Yale Theater Management Knowledge Base Case 14-70, July 13, 2016
Keywords: Theater, Performing Arts, Playwrights, Mission, Competition, Training Programs, New York City
Teaching Notes: Yes (please contact yaletmknowledgebase@yale.edu)
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