A Note from Executive Director, Nan Barnett
One of the great joys of my time at NNPN has been traveling the country on behalf of the Network, seeing the work and meeting the artists, arts administrators, and audiences who are creating the new American theatrical canon. The work of the Network takes many forms in many places, and I love to see as much of it as possible. Here’s a taste of some of what it looks like when I am “making the networking part of the Network work.”
My summer festival season kicked off with a new one for me. I’d heard for years about how much writers loved the Great Plains Theater Commons, and when GPTC joined as an Associate Member Theater last year (the Festival now has a producing arm mounting full productions of new works), I practically demanded an invite. And boy, did it live up to the hype. Omaha was a revelation, the locally developed talent top-notch, the national cohort of the new play field’s finest who serve as the directors, dramaturgs, and advocates for a stellar roster of playwrights – including NNPNers Sharifa Yazmeen, Daria Miyeko Marinelli, Mona Mansour this year, along with alum Harrison David Rivers and Ambassador Martine Kei Green-Rogers - all a great big wow. I got to see 5 of their 10 (!!!) readings, a fully produced play, have dinner at a 100+ year old steakhouse (thanks, Moira!), do a Q&A with the attendees, and watch a spectacular thunderstorm from the front porch of a historic home with theater folks I had both long admired and those I’d just met.
My July week on the road included a few days in DC, where I met with Reg Douglas of Mosaic, Reggie White of Woolly, Ouida Menzel from the NEA, our long-time friend Gregg Henry of the Kennedy Center, and Gwydion Suilebhan, Sara, and Jenna from staff. Then I went up to Shepherdstown, WV for the 2026 Contemporary American Theater Festival. NNPN Board Member and Artistic Director of CATF Peggy McGowan led a Board-to-Board Weekend where, along with NNPN Co-President Clare Drobot of City Theatre (PGH), and Board and Staff Members from NNPN Member Theater City, DC’s Theatre Alliance, and Round House (Bethesda, MD) NNPN Alumni Artist Laley Lippard and I were hosted by the CATF Board to a weekend of fine food, fresh plays, and vibrant discussions. As always, the festival was great fun (happy to report that the inaugural production of the RWP of Aurin Squire’s My Favorite Sociopath was a highlight), the events were well done, and the conversations about new works were excellent. There’s talk, I hear, of making this Board-to-Board weekend an annual event and I’d say get your reservations now!
August found me at Florida Studio in Sarasota for the third RWP production of Tate Elizabeth Hanyok’s audience-pleaser Dog Mom, which was moving and funny and fabulous. Then I added another new festival to my list - the SC New Play Festival, where standout works by NNPN Alumni Artists Grace McLeod, Octavio Solis, and Donnetta Lavinia Grays and others were presented in a variety of venues around Greenville, including an antique Austrian Spiegeltent, also a first for me.
SCNPF is a part of the New Play Development Commons, a collaborative effort of more than 50 not-for-profit organizations that offer retreats, residencies, and workshop opportunities for playwrights. NNPN, with the help of the Kenan Institute of the Arts and Venturous Theatre Fund, began convening this sector of the field in 2025, offering to share its collaborative model as a way of strengthening this sector of the new play pipeline. We are delighted that the idea has formalized – it is now being administered by HowlRound, and NNPN staff will be joining its Steering Committee Meeting at the O’Neill Theatre Center (CT) this December.
I also had a week that included a return to DC for the opening of the third leg of NNPNer Steve Yockey’s very funny and very dark new play Venus at Woolly – a rollercoaster of a play that once again proves why Steve is a Network favorite. I also spent some time with former NNPN President Ryan Rilette of Round House in Bethesda before trekking across the country (and I mean across!) to Juneau to be a part of the thousands of audience members who saw Kutulagaaw, the first modern all-Native, all-Tlingit-language opera. The experience was so affirming – watching the diverse and varied people of southeast Alaska witness the story of the Russian-Tlingit Battles of 1802 and 1804, told in the one nearly extinct tongue of its native people by an all-Tlingit creative team, a Native cast of more than 20 and a full orchestra, was one of the most moving experiences I have had in a theater (in this case a local high school auditorium) in a long time. NNPN is honored to have been a part of this multi-year project with Perseverance Theater and Alumni Artist Vera Starbard, who shaped the story and served as the lyricist for the project. (A special thanks to my hosts NNPN Board Member Leslie Ishii, Vera and her family, and NNPN Ambassadors Erinn Tripp and Bostin Christopher who shepherded me around town and invited me to appear on the local public radio show, Juneau Today.) This was an absolutely wonderful experience in every way!
October travels included one of my favorite things we do each year: NNPN’s staff retreat. We are all grateful for the time together – as a remote staff we often don’t get enough of that. This year the staff gathered in Philadelphia, where we were also able to conduct the site visit for the May 2027 National Showcase of New Plays. With the help of facilitator Lisa Mount, NNPN’s staff directors (Nan, Anne, and Rose), specialists (Rehana and RP) and contractors (Gwydion Suilebhan and Christine) spent two days working through strategies for the coming succession process, building our trust skills, and dreaming together about the future of NNPN, and our volunteer Hospitality Coordinator Cheryl Bycheck kept us well fed with meals from potential vendors for the May event. As always, thank you so very much for supporting this time for us (minus Sara who was on family leave. Kate and Jenna weren’t with us, but were able to join virtually for several of the sessions) to be together. We had a wonderful time and, thanks to Seth Rozin and the staff at InterAct, we know that those of you who will join us for Showcase will as well.
My October travels also included time in NYC with donors, partner orgs, and NNPN artists, and a Minneapolis/St. Paul visit for the kickoff of the RWP on One Shot by Andrew Rosendorf at Six Points and time with NNPN Founding AD, Jack Reuler, who will chair the Succession Committee. ( ICYMI, we have begun a long-tailed process to find the next administrative leader of NNPN. You’ll be hearing more about it as we move forward, but current plans call for a new Executive Director to be selected in time for the celebration of NNPN’s 30th year of service to the field, in the spring of 2028. As I am sure you can tell, this part of my work here – moving around the country, seeing the work NNPN supports and supporting the artists, audiences, and theaters that are bringing new work to the American canon, will be among the things that I miss most!
But for the next 18 months, I will be doing more of the same – you never quite know where I will show up next! Stay tuned…