Nan’s Notes: February 2023

Ten years ago, I joined the staff at National New Play Network and moved to Washington, DC to begin working in its headquarters.

And by staff, I mean I became the other employee.

And by HQ, I mean the 10 x 12 room under the stairs at Woolly Mammoth.

NNPN was small but mighty.

I’d been a part of the Network for several years, serving as the Board representative for NNPN’s first LORT Member Theater and as the Board president in the mid-2000s. I had been in the room where it happened when the Rolling World Premiere idea was born, the residency programs established, and had been a part of the process that had led to the hiring of NNPN’s first full-time staff member. I was proud of the impact that I had on the organization, and that it was having on the field.

The Network, which then had about 25 Member Theaters and a Board comprised of representatives of those theaters and NNPN donors, had just begun to bring on Associate Member Theaters. NNPN was also embarking on research for a major new project, the creation of a digital database of new works. Jason Loewith – whose acceptance of the Artistic Directorship at Olney Theatre Center made the NNPN ED position available – and I co-wrote the report to the Mellon Foundation that helped make the funding available to hire Gwydion Suilebhan as the New Play Exchange (or NPE as we briefly called it) Project Director. We joined JoJo Ruf, who was named Managing Director, in the little office under the stairs at Woolly, did some brainstorming sessions, wrote a few more grant applications, and packed our bags to discover what the country’s theater-makers wanted.

NNPN Staff and Board toast the approval of the FY20-25 Strategic Plan and proposed governance transition in December 2018 in the rehearsal hall of Core Member B Street Theatre in Sacramento.

The rest is ten years of growth, expansion, and impact. Those Associate Member Theaters are now a vital part of NNPN – more than seventy-five companies, both large and small, and our Cores now number 32. Together they represent theater staff, artists, and communities from Juneau to Miami. Our Affiliated Artists - NNPN’s programmatic alumni - hundreds of them now including Pulitzer Prize winners and playwrights who farm or teach or parent between writing scenes along with directors, dramaturgs, educators, and arts administrators - are leading new works programs all over the country, several at our Member Theaters. That new project we were working on in March of 2013 is now considered an essential tool for the field. The plays and writers and leaders and theaters that we’ve supported over the years are shaping the stories of today into the artistic narrative of our times.

The Board looks vastly different than the one that hired me, then mostly men, almost exclusively white, and almost all serving as Artistic Directors at Core Member Theaters. The FY20-25 Strategic Plan embraced a vision of an equitable, diverse new play ecosystem and created a new governance model that moved it to become more representative of the theater-makers who are making new work. And the work we are doing to focus on anti-racist, accessible, human-centered practices in the theater are taking hold, infusing our Member Theaters and the field with new ways of making impactful work.

I’ve read several thousand plays and traveled hundreds of thousands of miles to see and talk about new works. I have worn out multiple suitcases and laptops, talked to what seems like millions of theater-makers and theater-lovers, and been honored to represent NNPN at countless performances, meetings, and conferences. The pandemic slowed my travel but gave us a wonderful opportunity to get to know our Members in new ways and provide services that we didn’t before.

And now we’re here, in 2023, a little larger, more impactful, and oh so so so much mightier!

So, thank you – everyone – for being a part of this amazing experience. I will be forever grateful to the champions - too many to name here - who believed in me and those who set me up for and virtually guaranteed my success These past ten years have been filled with magical, wonderful moments made possible by your support, talent, and commitment. It has been an honor, a privilege, and a joy to carry the title of NNPN’s Executive Director. I look forward to our coming adventures together.

Nan Barnett
NNPN Executive Director