About
New Works Lab
NEW PLAY AND MUSICAL THEATER DEVELOPMENT
2012/13 READINGS 2011/12 READINGS
2010/11 READINGS
Playwrights Horizons premieres six new American plays and musicals every season. Beyond the marquee lights and behind the scenes, our Literary Department helps scores of playwrights to develop their voices and their new work at all stages of the writing process through a series of programs collectively known as the New Works Lab.
The Lab’s central purpose is to provide writers with developmental opportunities, affording them the time and space to collaborate on unfinished projects and hear their work aloud. In permutations ranging from one-day readings to extensive, week-long workshops, each process is structured to meet the needs of the individual playwright and unique project. Readings are closed to the public, allowing the author to evaluate and revise his or her work in a pressure-free environment.
The New Works Lab also encompasses a range of the Literary Department’s ongoing activities that allow them to discover and support new American writers. Playwrights Horizons is one of the only leading American theaters with an open submission policy, accepting scripts from any playwright – regardless of whether they’re known to us or have been produced on our stages before. Our staff reviews nearly 1,000 submissions each season (and every submission receives a written response); awards three to five new play commissions each season; and attends readings and productions of new work in New York and throughout the country.
SuperLab is a unique new play development collaboration between Playwrights Horizons and downtown new play powerhouse Clubbed Thumb. In 2010, noticing a significant overlap in the writers supported by both theaters, Playwrights Horizons Director of New Play Development Adam Greenfield and Clubbed Thumb Producing Artistic Director Maria Striar conceived of a co-curated series of play laboratories to support the creation of bold, risk-taking new works by living American playwrights and bridge the perceived gap between New York’s “uptown” and “downtown” theater sensibilities, methodologies and artist rosters, expanding the range of experience and opportunity for all. Initially supported by funds granted to Clubbed Thumb by Metlife/Theatre Communications Group’s A-ha! Program, created to foster creative thinking and action among its member theaters, SuperLab has since become a regular part of both theater’s new play development programs, with between 4 and 6 week-long, process-driven play labs each season. SuperLab readings are noted in the readings lists below.
Keep your eye on this page and future bulletins for updates on our ongoing activities.
Read what New Works Lab participants are saying about the program.
readingsLead support for the New Works Lab is generously previded by the Time Warner Foundation.
Support is also provided by the Jerome Foundation, the John Golden Fund, the Dorothy Strelsin Foundation, and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation.
2012/13 Readings to date
THE FLICK*
by Annie Baker
Directed by Sam Gold
July 2, 2012
PSALM 151
By Len Jenkin
Directed by Kip Fagan
August 27, 2012
WANT
By Zayd Dohrn
Directed by Kip Fagan
September 10, 2012
SuperLab: MOVERS AND SHAKERS
By Deborah Stein and Suli Holum
Directed by Deborah Stein
October 15-19, 2012
MARJORIE PRIME*
By Jordan Harrison
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
October 25-26, 2012
THE CONSULTANT
By Heidi Schreck
Directed by Anne Kauffman
October 29-31, and December 13, 2012
THE COTTAGE
By Kathleen Tolan
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
November 5, 2012
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE ESTATE
Book and Lyrics by Keith Glover
Music and Lyrics by Josh Schmidt
November 7-13, 2012
SuperLab: YOUR MOTHER’S COPY OF THE KAMA SUTRA
By Kirk Lynn
November 12-16, 2012
THE (CURIOUS CASE OF THE) WATSON INTELLIGENCE*
By Madeleine George
Directed by Leigh Silverman
November 27-30, 2012
LEVELING UP
By Deb Laufer
Directed by Wendy Goldberg
(co-produced with Cincinnati Playhouse)
December 3-4, 2012
I’M LOOKING FOR HELEN TWELVETREES
By David Greenspan
Directed by Leigh Silverman
December 7-10, 2012
MIDDLEMAN
By Carly Mensch
Directed by Annie Baker
December 14, 2012
MR. BURNS
Anne Washburn and Michael Friedman
Directed by Steve Cosson
January 7-11, 2013
CHEROKEE
By Lisa D’Amour
Directed by Anne Kauffman
January 15, 2013
FLY BY NIGHT
Conceived by Kim Rosenstock
Written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick & Kim Rosenstock
Directed by Bill Fennelly
January 24-29, 2013
A FUTURE PERFECT
By Ken Urban
Directed by Stephen Brackett
February 1, 2013
SuperLab: PHOEBE IN WINTER
By Jen Silverman
Directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt
February 4-8, 2013
THE PATRON SAINT OF SEA MONSTERS
By Marlane Meyer
Directed by Lisa Peterson
February 26-28, 2013