DOROTHY STRELSIN NEW AMERICAN WRITERS GROUP

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 26 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 2022/23 Group members include Brittany K. Allen, Benjamin Benne, Elizabeth Irwin, Jon Kern, Jonathan Norton, and Calamity West.

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.

Our upcoming Fresh Ink Reading Series will be held from March 30 - April 14.
Learn more and RSVP here.

BRITTANY K. ALLEN (She/her) is a Brooklyn-based writer and actor. Her play  Redwood  (2020 Kilroys List) has been produced at Portland Center Stage, Jungle Theater, and the Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City. She's developed work with Manhattan Theatre Club, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Studio Theatre, and Kansas City Repertory Theatre among other places, and currently holds commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Clubbed Thumb, and Portland Center Stage. A MacDowell fellow, she's an alumna of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater and the Obie-winning EST/Youngblood. Awards include the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, the Dramatists Guild Foundation Comedic Playwriting Prize, and a 2017 Van Lier New Voices fellowship at the Lark.  

BENJAMIN BENNE (he/him) is a Playwrights' Center Affiliated Writer, a National Latinx Playwriting Award winner, and was recently named part of "LA Vanguardia: The Latino innovators, investigators and power players breaking through barriers" by the Los Angeles Times. His plays include Alma (World Premiere '22: Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles & American Blues Theater in Chicago; Seattle Premiere '22: ArtsWest Playhouse; Regional Premiere '23: Curious Theatre Company in Denver; Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA), In His Hands (World Premiere '22: Mosaic Theater Company of DC), and What / Washed Ashore / Astray (World Premiere '23: Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis). Commissions: South Coast Rep & Seattle Rep. MFA: David Geffen/Yale School of Drama '22. www.benjaminbenne.com 

ELIZABETH IRWIN (she/her) was born in Worcester, raised by Brooklyn, and finished by el D.F. (aka Mexico City). She was a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, the Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, and Playwrights Realm's Page One Resident Playwright. Her play My Mañana Comes (Lucille Lortel Outstanding Play nominee, Drama Desk Outstanding Play Nominee, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award Nominee), received its critically acclaimed Off-Broadway debut at the Peter Jay Sharp theater. Her site-specific plays terrace play (2021) and coffee shop play (2022) completed sold out runs in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

JON KERN’s (he/him) plays include Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them (Second Stage Theatre, CATF); We in Silence Hear a Whisper (Red Fern Theatre Co.); and Hate the Loser Inside (2013 Marathon at Ensemble Studio Theatre). Alumnus: Ars Nova Play Group, Civilians R&D Group, EST/Youngblood, Ma-Yi Writers Lab, Playwrights Union. Awards: 2010-2011 Van Lier Fellowship from New Dramatists, 2012 Laurents/Hatcher Prize, EST/Sloan Grant. University of Chicago (BA), Columbia University (MFA). TV: "The Simpsons," "Son of Zorn." Teaching: New School, NYU.

JONATHAN NORTON's (he/him) work has been produced or developed by Dallas Theater Center, Jacob's Pillow, Actors Theatre of Louisville (44th Humana Festival), National New Play Network, PlayPenn, Pyramid Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kitchen Dog Theater, Undermain Theatre, Theater Three, and South Dallas Cultural Center. Jonathan's play Mississippi Goddamn was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award. His play penny candy was published by Deep Vellum Publishing. Jonathan is proud to serve as the Playwright in Residence at Dallas Theater Center.

CALAMITY WEST (she/her) is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her plays have appeared at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Roundabout, The Goodman Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, and Steep Theatre – to name a few. She holds a BA in dramatic writing from Webster University and an MFA in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She teaches playwriting and literature at her alma mater of Webster University and playwriting at the University of Chicago. In 2018, she founded the Playwrights Lab at Jackalope Theatre, where she is a proud company member. West is represented by CAA.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DSNAWG

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF DSNAWG

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.