Jane Kaczmarek, Reed Birney & More Set for 2015 National Playwrights Conference

Staged readings for the 2015 National Playwrights Conference begin this week at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Under leadership from Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg in her 11th season, the famed conference will develop eight new plays, selected from a pool of 1,300 submissions, with support from an award-winning slate of actors and directors.

3-time Golden Globe & 7-time Emmy Award nominee Jane Kaczmarek (Lois on "Malcolm in the Middle"), Tony Award-winning and Olivier Award-winning Michael Beresse (Director/Choreographer of [title of show]), and Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Reed Birney are cast in the Wendy MacLeod new play Slow Food. Duncan Sheik and playwright Steven Sater, the creative team of the Tony-Award winning Spring Awakening, are reunited in the development of No One's Sonata, with a cast led by Laila Robins (Broadway's Heartbreak House, TV Series "Homeland"), Tony Award-winning Frank Wood (Greg in the HBO series "Flight Of The Conchords"), and directed by Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg.

"These eight new plays come to us at a period of remarkable success for the National Playwrights Conference. Seven projects developed over the last few years will premier during the 2015 & 2016 off-Broadway seasons, at Atlantic, Roundabout, MCC, Women's Project Theater, and Manhattan Theatre Club," comments Ms. Goldberg.

"I am thrilled at the return of our many alumni actors, and also welcome spectacular new talent to the O'Neill. We are grateful for such talented, decorated, and versatile artists who join us in service to the process. Without them, the transformational work that takes place each summer, and success we've been seeing, may never be."

A founding program of the O'Neill, the National Playwrights Conference began in 1964 as a retreat for playwrights eager to write new work. Since then, it has been a launchpad for hundreds of new works for the stage and has played host to thousands of award-winning writers, actors, and artists.

Tickets for the National Playwrights Conference may be purchased online or through the O'Neill Box Office at (860) 443-1238. Schedule is subject to change. All performances are at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, 305 Great Neck Road, Waterford, CT 06385.

Photo by Sara De Boer / Retna Ltd.

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