MFA Playwrights’ Workshop
A partnership between the Kennedy Center Education Department (the American College Theatre Festival) and Stanford University’s National Center for New Plays, the annual MFA Playwrights’ Workshop (MFAPW) provides six to eight graduate students with an eight-day workshop for their plays and a unique professional development opportunity that links them to Network theaters.
Universities are asked to nominate current MFA candidates for the program, and those who are selected are paired with professional directors and dramaturgs from NNPN member theaters—recognized leaders with years of experience in the development of new work—and Washington, DC-based professional actors. The process gives young writers an education in professional play development, unparalleled mentorship in the creation of their work, and a valuable entrée to some of the country’s most vital new play theaters.
The Kennedy Center often invites other professional theaters or developmental centers to workshop a play during the same week, allowing the participating student playwrights and dramaturgs opportunities for interaction with potential collaborators such as the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, which joins the Workshop annually with its upcoming Kendeda Prize Winner.
The Workshop now links to more than 70 MFA programs across the country, and scripts developed at the MFAPW have gone on to productions at NNPN member theaters as well as nationally recognized companies. Featured writers often move into other NNPN programs such as Residencies or Commissions, and their work is presented at the National Showcase of New Plays and as Rolling World Premieres, as the program often serves as an entry point to the new-play pipeline NNPN has created.
These are the playwrights who have participated in the MFA Playwrights' Workshop since its inception in 2006.
2018 MFA Playwrights
Mothers, University of California, San Diego
B.J. Tindal
Goodnight Tyler, Northwestern University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)
Cary Simowitz
Djarum Vanilla, University of California, Los Angeles
You Must Wear A Hat, University of Iowa
A Departure, University of Texas at Austin
Incendiary, University of California, San Diego
The Promotion, Northwestern University
On Every Link A Heart Does Dangle (Alumni Project)
The Secret History of Caleb Caan, University of California, San Diego
Alumni MFA Playwrights
Urban Retreat, New York University
Sheltered, Columbia University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)
The Glass Man, CalArts
Amelia Roper
She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange, Yale School of Drama
House on the Hill (Alumni Project)
Day 392, Hunter College
White Devil Loving Mother, CalArts
Flood, Texas State University
Andrew Hinderaker
Colossal, The University of Texas at Austin
A Family Manual for Kwanzaa, The Juilliard School
Ayanna Maia Saulsberry
King Nigga, New York University
Borealis, University of California, San Diego
Berserker, Indiana University
Carly Mensch
All Hail Hurricane Gordo, The Juilliard School
The Memory Tax, Northwestern University
Jump, Hunter College
Chelsea Woolley
These Peaceable Kingdoms, National Theatre School of Canada
Chloé Hung
Issei, He Say (or the Myth of the First), New York University
Embrace, Hunter College
Dan LeFranc
The Many Means of Mother Meenie and Untitled (Alumni Projects)
Origin Story, Brown University
Dano Madden
The Weathly Life of Sam Tyler, Rutgers University
Widower, University of California, San Deigo
Carapace, Ohio University
The Found Dog Ribbon Dance, Columbia University
Alter, The University of Texas at Austin
Start Down, New York University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)
Cleave, National Theatre School of Canada
Erica Lipez
Bottled Up, New York University
Still, Still, Still, National Theatre School of Canada
The Jonah Play, Hunter College
Undesirables, Yale School of Drama (in association with Seattle Repertory Theatre)
The Ghosts of Lote Bravo, The Juilliard School
Jason Williamson
Goat Song for Asa Jacobs, Carnegie Mellon University
Red Helen, University of California, San Diego
Birthwives and Witches (Alumni Project)
The Toymaker's War, University of Iowa
Jiréh Breon Holder
Too Heavy for Your Pocket, Yale School of Drama (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)
Lingua Ignota (Alumni Project)
Skinless, Hunter College
Leftovers, Yale School of Drama (The Lorraine Hansberry Workshop, in association with Company One)
Joshua Allen
The Last Pair of Earlies, The Juilliard School
An Almanac for Farmers and Lovers in Mexico, Yale School of Drama
(a love story), Indiana University
Kimberly Rosenstock
Tigers, Be Still, Yale School of Drama
Kristin Simpson
Four Days in the Delta, University of New Mexico
Butt Nekkid, Ohio University
Volver Volver Volver, University of New Mexico
Green Whales (Alumni Project)
Right Place, Right Time, Rutgers University
The Bureau of Missing Persons, University of California, San Diego
Lindsey Ferrentino
This Flat Earth, Yale School of Drama
Real Life Drama, New York University
In Love and Warcraft, University of Southern California
Marco Ramirez
Broadsword, The Juilliard School
Shoe, University of Iowa
White Tie Ball, The University of Texas at Austin
The Friendship of Her Thighs, Yale School of Drama
Furies, New York University
Vessels, Fordham University
Occupants, Indiana University
Megan Breen
My Fist, My Fist, My Bleeding Seeded Spirit, University of Southern California
The Luckiest People (Alumni Project)
Blue Monday, Nothwestern University
Sex Lives of Our Parents, Yale School of Drama
The Tourists, The Juilliard School
Bike America, The Juilliard School
The Hour of Great Mercy, Yale School of Drama
The Wind and the Breeze, Indiana University
The Last Buckley, New York University
Centipede King, Boston University
Tight End, Ohio University
The Claire Play, The University of Texas at Austin
Parts and Parts of Stitches, Univeristy of New Mexico
Vanishing Act, Carnegie Mellon University
Ronald McCants
The Peacock Men, University of California, San Diego
Sam Hunter
Atlasing Sodom, The Juilliard School
Right, University of Iowa
Sam Marks
The Real Deal, Brown University
Franklin, Boston University
Militant Language, University of Iowa
Stephanie Timm
Picked, University of California, San Diego
Reykjavik (Alumni Project)
Afterlife: A Ghost Story, New York University
The Underneath, Yale School of Drama
Against the Hillside, The New School
Flesh and Blood, The Juilliard School
Black Woman Authority, The Catholic University of America
Tom Diggs
The Fairness Doctrine (Fair and Decent), New York University
Static, The University of Texas at Austin
The C.A. Lyons Project, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)
True Places, Boston University
How to Use a Knife, University of California, San Diego