O'Neill Theater Creates O'Neill Stages For Young Writers

Connecticut's O'Neill Theater Center has begun a program that will allow new plays to be workshopped this fall at the center's National Theater Institute. As a part of this program, playwrights and other theater professionals will join college undergrads in developing their own scripts.

This project, dubbed the O'Neill Stages will create hour-long works about contemporary teen issues and characters targeted for USA high schools. The pilot program will begin with six commissions from playwrights, and center on about 20 high schools.

The plays that are developed will then move on to be promoted by Samuel French Inc. next spring. They will also be made avaliable to selected schools during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The O'Neill Stages program is modeled after The New Connections program at London's National Theater. The stories that came out of that program consist of tricky topics like child murder, pregnant 13-year-olds, and other relevant topics like soldiers returning from Iraq.

The not-for-profit center will hold an $18 million-$20 million campaign over the next several years to create an endowment to support the center's new and existing programs.