PlayPenn is a new play development conference located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Paul Meshejian is the artistic director of the organization, which works with playwrights to develop new plays in a collaborative workshop environment.
Since PlayPenn's first conference in 2005, the organization has been hosting annual July conferences in Philadelphia, where invited playwrights work with actors, directors, dramaturgs and designers to rehearse, revise and develop their new scripts in workshops. The conference includes free public readings of the plays, as well as forums and symposia.
PlayPenn has helped develop 100 new plays, most of which have become full productions at theater companies in the United States and abroad. Playwrights who have workshopped scripts at PlayPenn include Jeffrey Hatcher, Deb Margolin, Aaron Posner, Michael Hollinger, J.T. Rogers and Lauren Yee. PlayPenn also offers classes and workshops during other months of the year, as well as consultations and support for playwrights from dramaturgs and editors.
Paul Meshejian, an actor and director, created PlayPenn in 2005 after working at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Michele Volansky has been his artistic partner since the beginning as associate artist and dramaturg. Meshejian said he wanted to create an encouraging space for writers, he told Jessica Foley of American Theatre (magazine) in 2015. "We'll feed you, provide lodging, so you ... can just write your play."
While PlayPenn's main goal is to nurture new plays, not necessarily to lead them to productions, PlayPenn scripts have become full productions at many Philadelphia theaters, as well as at other theaters around the country.
In 2014, PlayPenn began entering into partnerships with theater companies to help guide plays through the last phases of development before a formal production. The organization began by pairing with the Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey to shepherd the play The House That Jack Built by Suzanne Bradbeer.
For the 2017 PlayPenn conference, over 800 playwrights applied and six were chosen for workshops and free public readings. The conference also includes readings of up to three theatrical works in progress, along with forums and a symposium where participants discuss issues related to new-play development.
Playwrights and plays
Plays developed by PlayPenn, 2005-2016
2016
Another Kind of Silence by Lauren FeldmanFlat Sam by Antoinette NwanduHeartland by Gabriel Jason DeanHeavenly Cosmic by Meghan KennedyPoor Edward by Jonathan PayneThe Found Dog Ribbon Dance by Dominic FinocchiaroSensitive Guys by MJ KaufmanSuicide Jockey by Lena Barnard2015
Giantess by Genne MurphyHuman Error by Eric PfeffingerOslo by J.T. RogersPrince Max’s Trewly Awful Trip to the Desolat Interior by Ellen StruveWhite by James IjamesWidower by David J. JacobiWar Stories by Richard Dresserr/LYPSE: a subreddit of our dark lips and heart by Brian Grace-DuffShitheads by Douglas Williams2014
The Dizzy Little Dance of Russell DiFinaldi by Stephen BelberA Scar by Anne Marie CammaratoBehind the Motel by Emily SchwendWild Blue by Jen SilvermanCattle Barn, Hoochie Coo by Davey Strattan WhiteMr. Wheeler’s by Rob ZellersMoon Cave by Douglas WilliamsHonor Flight by Willy HoltzmanThe House That Jack Built by Suzanne Bradbeer2013
The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington by James IjamesCockfight by Peter Gil-SheridanInformed Consent by Deborah Zoe LauferNo Such Thing by Lisa DillmanProfiles by Joe WaechterTerminus by Gabriel Jason DeanUncanny Valley by Thomas GibbonsThe First Mrs. Rochester by Willy Holtzman2012
A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World by Liz Duffy AdamsG.O.B. by Willy HoltzmanToo Much, Too Much, Too Many by Meghan KennedyHousehold Spirits by Mia McCulloughMy Tidy List of Terrors by Jonathan James NortonSeven Spots of the Sun by Martin ZimmermanThe Three Christs of Manhattan by Seth RozinBarcelona by Bess Wohl2011
The Hatmaker’s Wife by Lauren YeeAmerican Wee-Pie by Lisa DillmanAnother Girl by John YearleyNerine by Brian QuirkSlip/Shot by Jacqueline GoldfingerThe Electric Baby by Stefanie ZadravecChasing Waves by Quinn EliAt the Edge of a Promised Land by Jesse Bernstein2010
Clementine in the Lower Nine by Dan DietzEtched in Skin on a Sunlit Night by Kara Lee CorthronHum by Nicholas WardigoLove and Communication by James J. ChristyRaising Jo by Charlotte MillerThe Whale by Samuel D. HunterImagining Madoff by Deb MargolinThe Outgoing Tide by Bruce GrahamCowboy/Indian by Matt OcksSome Other Kind of Person by Eric Pfeffinger2009
410 Gone by Frances Ya-Chu CowhigAppetite by Arden KassBlood and Gifts by J.T. RogersGhost-Writer by Michael HollingerThe Specificity of Paradise by John OrlockWe Three by Mary HamiltonThe Morini Strad by Willy HoltzmanTwo Jews Walk Into a War by Seth Rozin2008
Another Man’s Son by Silva SemerciyanBreadcrumbs by Jennifer HaleyA Human Equation by Peter BonillaHouse of Gold by Gregory MossSaving Grace (now entitled Salvation) by James McClindonWildflower by Lila Rose KaplanDear Brutus by Jeffrey HatcherAny Given Monday by Bruce GrahamThe Beef by Katie Grey2007
The Rant by Andrew CaseThe Day of the Picnic by Russell DavisAfter Adam by Christina HamMilitant Language by Sean Christopher LewisThere or Here by Jennifer MaiselMy Name is Asher Lev by Aaron PosnerCarlo vs. Carlo by Aaron CromieBubu the Terrible by Rick DesRochers2006
A Scream by Gina BarnettBad for the Jews by Peter MorrisMalignancy by Eric PfeffingerScarcity by Lucy Thurber2005
We Are Not These Hands by Sheila CallaghanAct a Lady by Jordan HarrisonThe Overwhelming by J.T. RogersOn Clarion by Lydia Stryk