Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Grants Eugene O'Neill Theater $40,000 for 2010 & 2011 National Playwrights Conferences

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has granted The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center $40,000 to go toward the development of new plays at its 2010 and 2011 National Playwrights Conferences that take place every summer in at the theater in Waterford, Connecticut.

At the Conference, now in its 45th 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, according to the theater's website. 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 8 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 such talents as Kia Corthron, John Guare, Israel Horovitz, David Henry Hwang, David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp, Mark Ravenhill, Wendy Wasserstein and August Wilson.

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.

The submission process for the 2010 Conference has recently closed. For information on applying as a playwright, visit theoneill.org or call Martin Kettling, Literary Manager, at (860) 443-5378 x227

In the Photo: (l to r): Jan Leslie Harding and Alexandra Tatarsky in Old Woman Flying at the O'Neill.

Photo Credit: A. Vincent Scarano.

 

 

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.