Discover the city's best new drama with free readings from PlayPenn

For those who like to discover new talent before the artists become famous, PlayPenn’s New Play Development Conference, now in its tenth season, offers a chance to attend never-before-heard readings of new plays in development from some very talented local and national playwrights.

The Conference is the outcome of a long selection process and an intense short period of development for the writers, directors, dramaturgs, and actors involved, with final readings open to the public for free.

According to Paul Meshejian, PlayPenn’s founder and artistic director, there have been some changes in this year’s format. One is that the six plays selected from an international call for submissions will have two readings each. This means that more people will be able to attend the readings, and “allows for a quantum leap forward in learning” for the playwright, who will have the opportunity to do rewrites after the first reading.

In addition, as part of PlayPenn’s desire to support the local Philadelphia writing community, they have made a commitment to do a reading of one play from The Foundry, a Philadelphia playwrights' lab. This year the selected play is Moon Cave by Douglas Williams, who is the Playwright-in-Residence at Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia.

There will also be a symposium on New Play Development in Philadelphia and readings of 10-minute plays by interns studying at the Conference.

“Ultimately our belief is that when people comprehend that new work isn’t daunting, they might buy tickets for a new play at one of the local producing theaters,” says Meshejian.

PlayPenn’s 10th Annual New Play Development Conference runs from July 15 through July 27 at the Adrienne Theater, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia. For more information, call 215- 242-2813 or visit www.playpenn.org.