The New Harmony Project Now Accepting Submissions for 2018 Conference

The New Harmony Project announced today that it is now accepting submissions for the 32nd annual conference in May of 2018. Since 1986, the secluded town of New Harmony, Indiana has hosted artists from around the world for two-weeks of dedicated script development. Over the course of the conference, The New Harmony Project offers a retreat from the outside world, and space for writers to fully immerse themselves in their work. The peaceful serenity of New Harmony, the site of two former utopian societies, is a world away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

"The Project's mission of portraying the resilience of the human experience is even more vital now than when the organization was founded nearly 32 years ago," says Mead Hunter, artistic director of The New Harmony Project. "At a time when our culture is in transition, dramatic depictions of the struggles we face and the triumphs we earn can provide a forum for discussion, dialogue-even change."

The New Harmony Project offers two types of residency. Writers in Full Development are joined by a full cast and creative team, and spend the conference working on one specific project, hand-picked following a rigorous selection process. Writers in Residence are offered support to work on multiple projects, and afforded the freedom and flexibility to immerse themselves in their own personal process.

In 2017, The New Harmony Project welcomed Ngozi Anyanwu, ahead of her off-Broadway playwriting debut with The Homecoming Queen at Atlantic Theater Company, and Kirk Lynn, co-Artistic Director of The Rude Mechs, as Writers in Full Development. Joining them as Writers in Residence were Mashuq Mushtaq Deen (award-winning queer theater artist, and a resident playwright at New Dramatists), Sherry Kramer (What a Man Weighs at Second Stage, New York Drama League Award), Mat Smart (2015 Equity Jeff Award Winner for Best New Work in Chicago with Royal Society of Antarctica, Samuel J. and K. at Steppenwolf and Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Lynn Rosen (two-time recipient of the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan New Play Commission and a resident playwright at New Dramatists and Women's Project Theater).

The New Harmony Project boasts an impressive roster of past participants including Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning writer Robert Schenkkan (All the Way, The Kentucky Cycle), Theresa Rebeck (NBC's Smash, Seminar), Lee Blessing (Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee, A Walk in the Woods), Steven Dietz(Lonely Planet), John Pielmeier (Agnes of God, The Exorcist), James Still (four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, The Velocity of Gary), Meredith Stiehm (Emmy Winner, Homeland, Cold Case), Danny Strong (two-time Emmy winner, Empire, Lee Daniels' The Butler), Dan O'Brien (The Body of an American), George Brant(Grounded, Marie and Rosetta), Idris Goodwin (How We Got On, The Way the Mountain Moved), ReGina Taylor(Drowning Crow, Crowns), Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51, Actually), Jim Leonard (Major Crimes, Dexter), Mark St. Germain (Freud's Last Session, The Cosby Show), Angelo Pizzo (Rudy, Hoosiers), Matt Williams (five-time Emmy nominee, Home Improvement, Roseanne), David McFadzean (three-time Emmy nominee, Home Improvement, Roseanne), and numerous others.

Submissions are being accepted online through October 1, 2017, and invited participants will be notified in early 2018. Those interested in applying can visit The New Harmony Project website (www.newharmonyproject.org) for more information and full submission requirements. The New Harmony Project is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.

In April of 1986, a group of theater, film, and television professionals gathered in Indianapolis to explore the trend in the entertainment arts toward exploitative and sensational material. They concluded there was a need to engage and support writers whose work sought a goal beyond mere entertainment, work that sought to empower and uplift. It was out of this meeting that The New Harmony Project was created. For 32 years, The Project has inspired a community of artists dedicated to this mission, motivated by a desire to support stories of hope, optimism, and the resiliency of the human spirit. The New Harmony Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For information on how to support this unique and worthwhile organization, please visit newharmonyproject.org, or follow us on social media.

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