CONTINUED LIFE OF NEW PLAYS FUND

Our flagship program, the Continued Life of New Plays Fund (CLNPF), supports three or more theaters which choose to mount the same new play within a twelve-month period. The result is a “rolling world premiere” through which the playwright develops a new work with at least three different creative teams, for three different communities of patrons, ensuring the resulting play is of the highest possible quality. And, with a minimum of three productions in a single year, the play attains the momentum it needs to join the repertoire of frequently-produced new American works. NNPN provides grants of $6,300 to each participating theater; to date, NNPN has championed the continued life of new plays with a quarter million dollars in grants.

All over the country, hundreds of new plays are developed each year, yet only a handful receive full productions. Among the plays that do, only a fraction receive second, third or fourth productions outside their immediate regions. Without subsequent productions, plays have little opportunity to evolve artistically or to generate significant critical attention and momentum. In addition, without the "hype" generated by an Off-Broadway run or a major festival, new plays struggle to attract audiences equal to those enjoyed by classic plays, musicals, and star-studded pre-Broadway tryouts. So new plays of merit by emerging writers are often shelved after their first productions because subsequent producers are only interested in the "world premiere." CLNPF was created to develop an alternative producing model, and change the way theaters and audiences understand the term "world premiere."

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THE PILOT

In 2003, NNPN established the pilot project for the CLPNF, in which five theaters committed to producing a new play prior to the official opening of the first production. Thomas Gibbon's PERMANENT COLLECTION was first produced at InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA) and then went on to subsequent "rolling world premieres" at Florida Stage (West Palm Beach, FL), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX), Mixed Blood Theater (Minneapolis, MN) and Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City, MO).

Since then, PERMANENT COLLECTION has become one of the most produced new plays in recent years, with more than 20 productions across the United States and 2 international productions, resulting in an estimated total audience of 68,250 people. Productions include NNPN member companies New Repertory Theatre (Boston, MA), Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL) and Horizon Theatre (Atlanta, GA), as well as and non-member companies Northlight Theatre (Skokie, IL), Arizona Theatre Company (Tucson, AZ), CENTERSTAGE (Baltimore, MD), Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH), and Center Theatre Group (Culver City, CA).

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THE PROCESS

Since the pilot, CLNPF projects are chosen through a self-selecting process. Harnessing the power of the Network and its enormous reach into the new-play world, potential scripts are submitted by and circulated to all NNPN member theaters. From there, artistic directors (at least two of whom must work at NNPN member theaters) agree in writing to produce the selected play prior to and within twelve months of the official opening of the first production. NNPN believes that if three or more artistic directors are willing to commit to the same new play, before it has been reviewed, it merits our investment. Each theater works with the playwright directly to aid in the development of the script, however each production is mounted independently of the others.

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THE PROJECTS

Since the success of the pilot project, NNPN's CLNPF has grown and flourished. Projects currently in process:

THERE ARE NO ROOSTERS IN THE DESERT by Kara Hartzler

• El Circulo Teatral (Mexico City) (non-NNPN member)
• Borderlands Theatre (Tucson, AZ)
• PROP THTR (Chicago, IL)

OEDIPUS EL REY by Luis Alfaro

• Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA)
• The Theatre at Boston Court (Pasadena, CA) (non-NNPN member)
• Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC)

SUNLIGHT by Sharr White

• Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA)
• New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)
• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)

Completed projects:

ICE GLEN by Joan Ackerman

• Florida Stage (West Palm Beach, FL)
• Shakespeare & Co. (Lenox, MA) (non-NNPN member)
• Performance Network (Ann Arbor, MI)

HAZARD COUNTY by Allison Moore

• Actors Theatre of Louisville (Louisville, KY) (non-NNPN member) as part of the 2005 Humana Festival
• Kitchen Dog Theatre (Dallas, TX)
• Actor's Express Theatre (Atlanta, GA)

THE ICE-BREAKER by David Rambo

• Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA)
• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)
• New Repertory Theatre (Boston, MA)

TEMPODYSSEY by Dan Dietz

• Curious Theatre (Denver, CO)
• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)
• New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)

A HOUSE WITH NO WALLS by Thomas Gibbons

• InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA)
• Florida Stage (West Palm Beach, FL)
• Curious Theatre (Denver, CO)
• New Repertory Theatre (Boston, MA)
• Unicorn Theatre (Kansas City, MO)

FOR BETTER by Eric Coble

• Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO)
• New Theatre (Miami, FL)
• Southern Rep (New Orleans, LA)

END DAYS by Deb Laufer

• Florida Stage (Palm Beach, FL)
• Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO)
• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)

AND HER HAIR WENT WITH HER by Zina Camblin

• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)
• New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)
• Fountain Theatre (Los Angeles, CA)

LOVE PERSON by Aditi Kapil

• Mixed Blood Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
• Marin Theatre Company (Mill Valley, CA)
• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)

BLACK GOLD by Seth Rozin

• InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA)
• Prop Thtr (Chicago, IL)
• Phoenix Theatre (Indianapolis, IN)

SICK by Zayd Dohrn

• Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX)
• Southern Rep (New Orleans, LA)
• New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)

26 MILES by Quiara Hudes

• Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA - non-member)
• Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO)
• New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL)

JIHAD JONES & THE KALASHNIKOV BABES by Yussef El Guindi

• Golden Thread (San Francisco, CA - non-member)
• InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA)
• Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX)

THE RANT by Andrew Case

• New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL)
• InterAct Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA)
• New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)

SHOTGUN by John Biguenet

• Southern Rep (New Orleans, LA)
• Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Orlando, FL)
• Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL)

TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR... by Seth Rozin

• Florida Stage (Manalapan, FL)
• Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey (Madison, NJ) / New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)

YANKEE TAVERN by Steven Dietz

• Florida Stage (Palm Beach, FL)
• Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO)
• New Jersey Repertory Company (Long Branch, NJ)
• Actor's Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC)

List current as of July 2010.