Call for Nominations: 5th Annual Undergraduate Playwrights’ Workshop at the Kennedy Center, July 26-August 2
rhwalters2005
“It's an in-house play development process for Undergrads. We are working with a 22 year-old playwright who has a dozen experienced,
smart people in the room. He can't stop smiling. Neither can we.”
--Jennifer Mendenhall, DC-based, two-time Helen Hayes Award-winning actress.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is offering the 5th Annual Undergraduate Playwrights’ Workshop at the Kennedy Center
July 26-August 2, 2020.
All undergraduate students are eligible for nomination, including those receiving their degrees in the spring of 2020.
This is an invitation to nominate outstanding undergraduate playwrights from your school. The nomination need only be the name and email address of the playwright, no letters of recommendation are required or expected, at this stage. The selection process will proceed on the assumption that if you’ve nominated the student, you feel they are ready for the experience. Representatives from the reading panel may reach out to you for more information and guidance as final invitations are being considered.
Please communicate your nominees to me at your convenience (via ghe...@kennedy-center.org) and ask your nominees to follow this link to apply:
https://thekennedycenter.smapply.io/prog/2020UndergradPW
About the Workshop
The selected undergraduate playwrights will be invited to the Kennedy Center to develop their full-length play with an artistic team of professional directors and dramaturgs, and an acting company made up of leading actors from the D.C theatre community. In addition, undergraduate playwrights will have the opportunity to observe the various development processes of the MFA Playwrights' Workshop-produced in association with the National New Play Network, connect with the leadership of NNPN member theatres, and interact with Mark Bly and the participants of the New Play Dramaturgy Intensive, all in residence concurrently.
The workshop process will be completely driven by the particular needs of the playwright and her/his play. There is ample writing time, meetings with the director/dramaturg team, and daily four-hour rehearsal blocks with actors. If the team chooses to present a concert reading at the end of the workshop process, the feedback session will led by the play’s dramaturg and will be wholly based on the playwright’s objectives for the development process.
The creative teams will be supplemented, as needed, with additional artists that the playwright feels are necessary to the exploration of the work [for example: a sound designer, a choreographer, a federal prosecutor, a composer, a movement consultant, a puppetry consultant, etc.]
Student Application Materials (Due by December 16, 2019)
Your student(s) will be asked provide:
- A letter that introduces us to their work, and a brief discussion of one or more works-in-progress that they are interested in developing while in residence at the Kennedy Center next summer.
- Additionally, they will be asked to upload a selection of work that they feels best represents their voice (ten-minute plays, one-acts, monologues, spoken-word poetry), and a complete or partial draft of full-length work, or a detailed “treatment” of a proposed full-length work-in-process.
Notification Timeline
In late-January 2020, the Kennedy Center will contact a group of finalists to discuss the workshop further. These playwrights will be invited to send updated information and a current draft or “treatment” of a proposed work-in-progress for the Kennedy Center residency.
The reading and selection panel will be made up of literary managers, dramaturgs, directors, and actors with a special affinity for the development of new work.
The selected playwrights will be provided with round-trip transportation, lodging in a University residence hall within walking distance of the Kennedy Center, per diem of $50, and a daily lunch voucher for the period of the residency. The playwrights and teams will be gathered on Sunday, July 26 and head home late afternoon on August 2, 2020.
Every effort will be made to notify the invited playwrights by April 6, 2020.
Some thoughts from previous workshops
“The Undergraduate Playwright’s Workshop was everything I’d hoped it would be and more. I didn’t know I was capable of growing so much as an artist in such a short amount of time, and yet here we are. My cast was incredible, y’all. So thoughtful, perceptive, and insightful. So many wonderful discoveries were made in that rehearsal room! Everyone left a watermark on my script, whether it be through their thought-provoking questions or brilliant improvised moments. That’s the beauty of collaborative art, folks! At this point, my script isn’t just mine anymore. My script is just as much mine, as it is the wonderful artists’ I’ve worked with. Ultimately, I’m left speechless at the support I experienced at the Kennedy Center. So often, it feels as if we isolate ourselves in our own art, improving only ourselves. But with weeks like this, it makes me step back and truly take in how much beauty is found in the unabashed giving of oneself. Each and every artist I worked with gave so much of themselves- their support, their ideas, their energy. It was truly inspiring. It’s one of those moments that makes you stop and think, “That. I want to be like that.”” Katie Svatek, Texas State University
“Growing up and leaving home means finding many new homes along the way, and I can say that I have found one at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. I am still blown away by the experience; it was totally surreal in the most wonderful way. Thank you for making my experience not only possible, but brilliant and inspiring.” Jamie Berry, University of Missouri
“To the Someone Who Isn’t Me Team: It's taken me a few days to process my thoughts. Here goes: your support and belief in this process has been absolutely invaluable. As a first foray into playwriting, your insightful feedback and generous and specific attention to the inner workings of the script have unlocked many possibilities for where the story may go- and I owe that to each and every one of you. To have people as talented and intelligent as all of you was truly a gift.” Michael Keita Hisamoto, Boston University
“It has taken me a few days to gather my thoughts and write this. Over the past week, I have been at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at the first Undergraduate Playwrights' Workshop… During the week, I workshopped my full-length play Snapdragon with the most amazing team: Director Gus Heagerty, Dramaturg Ally Currin, Stage Manager Joey Blakely and actors Audrey Bertaux, Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey, Laura C. Harris, Alyssa Wilmoth-Keegan, Thomas Keegan and Kimberly Schraf. Your talent, honesty and support served as inspiration for me to write like I never had before and take this script to a new level I am so proud of. This immersive experience has changed the way I look at the future of theatre and I will take all the lessons (and many pages of notes I took) with me as a compass for becoming a playwright who isn't afraid to collaborate and take risks in order to create impactful theatre.” Nicholas De Los Santos, Loyola Marymount University
I’m happy to answer any questions you or your students may have.
With Best Wishes,
Gregg
Gregg Henry, Artistic Director
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Education Division
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, District of Columbia