(l to r): Jan Leslie Harding, Alexandra Tatarsky, OLD WOMAN FLYING. (Photo by A. Vincent Scarano.)

(l to r): Barrie Youngfellow, Tom Wiggin, Sam Freed and Tara Falk, MADININA. (Photo by A. Vincent Scarano.)

Playwright Mat Smart (l) and director Steven Williford, THE BEBOP HEARD IN OKINAWA. (Photo by A. Vincent Scarano.)

About Our National Playwrights Conference

Each year a community of professionals gathers in the serene setting of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in order to support playwrights and new works for the theater. The National Playwrights Conference strives to create a supportive environment that empowers playwrights to guide his or her own process and to experience the play with a professional company.

In the years since it's inception the National Playwrights Conference has hosted more than 600 plays. During the Conference, playwrights live on the grounds of The O'Neill for a month and engage in a six-day process of rehearsals and two script-in-hand public readings of their play. Up to 15 plays and playwrights are chosen for this process each summer. Conference participants represent a wide range of experience from playwrights working on a first play to Broadway veterans; directors and actors have also worked on and off Broadway and in regional theaters, and represent emerging artists and seasoned professionals. Playwrights who have participated in the Conference include Kia Corthron, John Guare, Israel Horovitz, David Henry Hwang, David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp, Mark Ravenhill, Wendy Wasserstein and August Wilson.

In addition to writers selected for staged readings, the Conference serves as a retreat for several writers in residence working independently on special projects. Recent summers' residents include Christina Anderson, David Cale, Joseph Chaikin, and Regina Taylor. Conference participants also have access to discussions with special guests: past speakers have included playwrights Edward Albee, Ed Bullins, Romulus Linney and Paula Vogel as well as Eugene O'Neill biographers Arthur and Barbara Gelb and director David Esbjornson.

The O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference was established in 1965 by George C. White, President of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center until 2000. Lloyd Richards was Artistic Director from 1968-1999 and during his tenure brought the conference international acclaim as a resource for playwrights and a wellspring of potent new work for the stage. Wendy C. Goldberg was appointed Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference in 2005.

For information on applying as a playwright, please visit our SUBMISSION GUIDELINES & APPLICATION page. With other questions, please call Martin Kettling, Literary Manager, at (860) 443-5378 x227