Philadelphia's PlayPenn Announces Reimagined 2025 New Play Development Conference

PlayPenn, a national new play development center based in Philadelphia, has announced the 2025 New Play Development Conference, taking place from July 5th to July 20th, 2025. 

This year, the conference extends its reach beyond a single location to bring new plays into communities across four Philadelphia County districts, thanks to a groundbreaking collaboration with InterAct Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Power Street Theatre, Theatre in the X, and the Wilma Theater. The collaboration  aims to foster greater sustainability in the arts by sharing resources and expanding audiences.

"As giants in the new play development field like Sundance Theater Lab, The Lark and the Humana Festival have disappeared, the need for PlayPenn's work has never been more urgent,” said Che'Rae Adams, PlayPenn Artistic Director. “For nearly two decades, our New Play Development Conference has been a vital incubator for playwrights, ensuring that bold new voices continue to shape the future of theater. By expanding our conference citywide and forging meaningful artistic partnerships, we are deepening our commitment to fostering new voices and ensuring that the future of theatre is representative, sustainable and inclusive. Philadelphia should take great pride in being home to one of the few institutions still championing this work - supporting playwrights, enriching audiences and strengthening the national theatrical landscape."

Three Plays Selected for Development

After reviewing nearly 200 play submissions across the Mid-Atlantic region, PlayPenn is thrilled to announce the Resident Playwright selections  for the 2025 New Play Development Conference. Three playwrights are in residence for two weeks with each of their outstanding works undergoing intensive rehearsal, culminating in two staged public readings. Each play will be paired with one of PlayPenn's partner theaters and their artistic teams, providing invaluable guidance, feedback and resources.

• Ama. Egg. Oyá. by Lori Felipe-Barkin – A powerful exploration of infertility, motherhood and the fierce determination to have a child, blending Santería, modern-day Miami and Cuban rhythms. (Partner Theatre: Power Street Theatre)

• Hand Foot Hand by L M Feldman – An intimate and raw portrait of three aging aerialists navigating love, loss, and the uncertainty of mid-career artistry. (Partner Theatre: The Wilma Theater)

• Harlem Canary/Tokyo Crow by Andrew Saito – A satirical comedy about WWII's “Negro Propaganda Operations”, where captured African American POWs were forced to record radio plays comparing racial freedoms in Japan and the U.S. (Partner Theatre: Theatre in the X)

In addition to the selected plays, PlayPenn is proud to recognize seven finalists. While these plays will not receive full development as part of the Conference, their selection is a testament to their outstanding merit and the strength of their storytelling:

• 1898 or How Sugar Conquered The Enchantment by Nelson Diaz-Marcano

• The Ancestry Dot Com Play by Alyssa Haddad-Chin

• Ceremony by Dave Ebersole

• Greetings From The Red Planet by Natalie Valentine

• Novios by Arturo Luíz Soria

• The Single Rain Drop by Zachariah Ezer

• X#*! YOU VERY MUCH, MOM by Đavid Lee Huỳnh

For more information on the 2025 PlayPenn New Play Development Conference, including Foundry First Spark Readings, the Young Playwright reading and more visit www.playpenn.org/2025-conference.