In 2003, concerned that the trend of endless readings and development programs was limiting the texture and ambition of new American plays, 13 midcareer playwrights banded together to try different model. They formed a collective called 13P (13 Playwrights, Inc.), determined a sequence of productions-Anne Washburn would be P#1, Winter Miller P#2, etc.-and set out to realize a full production of a new play by each of them. The resources of the company would be placed at the disposal of the playwright, who serves as the company's artistic director during the production of their play. After those 13 productions, the organization would disband.
Now, nine years and 11 shows later-in which the collective has garnered numerous awards and much acclaim-13P will present its ImPlosion Season beginning with the world premiere of
Erin Courtney's A Map of Virtue, directed by
Ken Rus Schmoll (The
Foundry Theatre's FUREE in Pins & Needles and Telephone;
Will Eno's Middletown). In this middle-of-the-night horror, a shared obsession leaves a group of friends stranded in the woods. A bird statue serves as guide through this symmetrical story of coincidence, tragedy and friendship. A Map of Virtue will run February 5-25, 2012 at the East 4th Street Theater (79 East 4th St., NYC). A show schedule and ticketing information will be announced soon.
"13P is a great model for playwrights to realize full productions of their own work," said Courtney. "We are thrilled that we will have accomplished our goal of producing 13 plays by the end of this season. After we implode, I look forward to watching productions from other playwright led companies."
In summer 2012, 13P will present its final show, a premiere by the much-celebrated
Sarah Ruhl. Details are forthcoming.
"I am honored to be the last P in this illustrious group of Ps," said Ruhl. "I have never been an artistic director before, so please join me in this humble and bold experiment."
The ImPlosion Season will also include A People's History of 13P, an oral history video archive that documents the experiences and challenges 13P has faced from inception to implosion. This archive will exist at 13P.org and will include filmed interviews with the playwrights, collaborators and supporters who have championed this new model for a decade.
The season will conclude with the ImPlosion Party, a blowout bash. Date, location and others details will be announced soon.
About
Erin Courtney (P#12)
Ms. Courtney is currently writing a new play called Service Road, a commission for the Adhesive Theater Company. Her new play Honey Drop was part of the Clubbed Thumb/
Playwrights Horizons Superlab and was given a mini-workshop at New Georges. Her other plays include Alice the Magnet, Demon Baby, Quiver and Twitch and Black Cat Lost. She has collaborated with
Elizabeth Swados on Kasper Hauser: A Foundling's Opera, which was produced at
The Flea Theater and named one of The Downtown Theater Favorites of 2009 by Tom Murrin of Paper magazine. Her plays have been produced or developed by Clubbed Thumb,
The Public Theater, The Flea, The Vineyard,
Playwrights Horizons, NYS&F, and
Soho Rep. Demon Baby is published in two anthologies; New Downtown Now, edited by
Mac Wellman and Young
Jean Lee and published by University of Minnesota Press; and Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays by Clubbed Thumb, edited by
Maria Striar and Erin Detrick and published by Playscripts, Inc. She is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb as well as the co-founder of the Brooklyn Writer's Space. Ms. Courtney teaches playwriting at Brooklyn College. She earned her M.F.A. in playwriting at Brooklyn College with
Mac Wellman. A Map of Virtue and Black Cat Lost will be published in 2012 by 53rd State Press.
About
Sarah Ruhl (P#13)
Ms. Ruhl's most recent play, Stage Kiss, had its world premiere at the
Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2011. Her plays include In The Next Room, or the Vibrator Play (Glickman Prize, finalist for Pulitzer Prize, 2010, Tony Nomination Best Play), The Clean House (
Susan Smith Blackburn award, 2004, finalist for Pulitzer Prize, 2005), Dead Man's Cell Phone (Helen Hayes award for best new play), Demeter in the City (nominated for 9 NAACP awards), Eurydice, Melancholy Play, Orlando, a new version of Chekhov's Three Sisters, and Passion Play (Kennedy Center Fourth Forum Freedom Award). Her plays have premiered at the Lyceum Theater on Broadway, produced by
Lincoln Center Theater; off-Broadway at
Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights' Horizons, and
Second Stage; and regionally at Berkeley Repertor y Theater, Yale Repertory Theater, the Goodman Theater, Cornerstone Theater,
Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth,
Cincinnati Playhouse, and the Piven Theater Workshop in Chicago, as well being produced at many other theaters across the country. Her plays have also been performed in England, Poland, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia, and have been translated into Spanish, German, Polish, Russian, Korean and Arabic. Sarah received her M.F.A. from Brown University where she studied with
Paula Vogel, and is originally from Chicago. In 2003, she was the recipient of a Helen Merrill award and a Whiting Writers' award, a PEN/
Laura Pels award, and in 2006 was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Her work is published by TCG and Samuel French, and she is a member of
New Dramatists. She lives in New York City with her family.
About 13P
13P (13 Playwrights, Inc.) was formed in 2003 by 13 midcareer playwrights concerned about what the trend of endless readings and new play development programs is doing to the texture and ambition of new American plays. The 13 playwrights of 13P are
Sheila Callaghan,
Erin Courtney,
Madeleine George,
Rob Handel,
Ann Marie Healy,
Julia Jarcho, Young
Jean Lee,
Winter Miller,
Sarah Ruhl, Kate E. Ryan,
Lucy Thurber,
Anne Washburn, and
Gary Winter.
Together, the collective realizes full productions of new plays. The resources of the company are placed at the disposal of the playwright at work, who serves as the company's artistic director during the production of her play.
At their first gathering in fall 2003, they chose the order of their 13 productions. The process for each production begins with a meeting between the playwright, executive producer, and managing director. The playwright is asked to dream out loud about her ideal venue, director, cast, and other collaborators for the play. 13P orients itself around each playwright within the framework: The artistic director takes full artistic responsibility for the company during her tenure, and they make every effort to realize the playwright's wishes.
Awarding 13P an OBIE in 2005, the committee wrote, "Not since Circle Repertory have we seen playwrights in New York forging a home for each other."
For more information, please visit www.13P.org.
