Join us for this Zoom celebration, including:
A retrospective look back at 25 years of writers. See the many members of Writers Groups past and learn some of their favorite memories, plays they’ve written, and their advice to up-and-coming writers
A panel discussion including shared snippets of new plays with past and present Group Members featuring Joshua Allen (”Empire,” “Hostages,” The Last Pair of Earlies), Bekah Brunstetter (”This Is Us,” The Cake at MTC), Elizabeth Irwin (My Mañana Comes, current Writers Group Member), and Matthew Paul Olmos (so go the ghosts of méxico)
Announcement of 2021 Jeffry Melnick Award Winner, Noelle Viñas, presented by Oscar A. L. Cabrera and Guadalís Del Carmen
Other surprise announcements with special guest Theresa Rebeck & themed cocktail!
Primary Stages is committed to supporting playwrights at all stages of their careers and providing an artistic home where they can hone their craft and develop their latest works.
An integral part of this initiative is our Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, which has been fostering the creation of new works by emerging playwrights for 25 years. Throughout its history, the Group has helped launch the careers of over 60 writers and supported the creation of over 150 new plays. Led by our artistic staff, the Group is composed of eight up-and-coming writers who participate in the program for a three-year cycle. This multi-year commitment provides writers with the security of an artistic home and enables our staff to form intimate relationships with these artists and give them the personal attention they need to advance their work. The Group meets on a weekly basis from September through April, giving writers the opportunity to discuss their current projects and offer each other constructive feedback in a supportive environment. The goal for each writer is to complete a new play by the end of the spring session, which is then given a public reading in our Fresh Ink Reading Series. The group members also receive a week-long retreat at Bennington College. Our 2020/21 Group members include Kevin Artigue, Benjamin Benne, Elizabeth Irwin, Jon Kern, Matthew Minnicino, Liliana Padilla, and Madhuri Shekar.
Primary Stages continues to support our Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group alumni in their future as artists. Alumni collaborations include commissions of Rehana Lew Mirza's A People's Guide to History in the Time of Here and Now and Susan Soon He Stanton's 2021 Living Room Commission. In 2019, Primary Stages produced Leah Nanako Winkler's God Said This, which was began in DSNAWG and then went to on to feature in the Actors Theater of Louisville's Humana Festival and received the 2018 Yale Drama Prize.
The Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group is made possible thanks to the generous support of The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.