National Playwrights Conference Announces Selections for Summer

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announced today eight plays to be developed at the 2013 National Playwrights Conference (NPC):

THE SOLID SAND BELOW by Martín Zimmerman
SAMSARA by Lauren Yee
A GREAT WILDERNESS by Samuel D.Hunter
LITTLE CHILDREN DREAM OF GOD by Jeff Augustin
THE OREGON TRAIL by Bekah Brunstetter
ALL THE ROADS HOME by Jen Silverman
EVANSTON: A RARE COMEDY by Michael Yates Crowley
LOST LAKE by David Auburn

Sarah Gubbins and Joshua Harmon will also be in residence working on new plays.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg (> click for bio), each play will undergo the O'Neill's signature development process, employing acclaimed professional creative and support staff, including directors, dramaturgs, actors, and designers. Playwrights spend the month of July developing and presenting staged readings of their work during NPC's 49th season. Two directors are also confirmed: Braden Abraham will direct Samuel D. Hunter's A Great Wilderness and conference Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg will reunite with David Auburn to direct Lost Lake. Goldberg's acclaimed production of Proof was part of Arena Stage's 2002-2003 season in Washington, DC.

The eight selected works were chosen from among 1,100 plays received through the O'Neill's open submissions process, which allows any playwright - with or without agent representation - to submit. Readers from across the country choose works based on merit, without authorship attribution.

"I am very proud of this season." Goldberg says. "It is incredibly exciting to be developing these projects and to be working with these innovative writers this summer. The 1,100 scripts submitted are the highest ever during my tenure, and selection was a highly competitive process. Our plays come from this deep pool and also include an invited artist, David Auburn, whom I am happy to welcome to the O'Neill."

More than fifty plays developed during Goldberg's nine seasons have gone on to world premieres. The Nether by Jennifer Haley, developed during the 2011 NPC, was awarded the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and is currently receiving a critically acclaimed world premiere production at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. The Happiest Song Plays Last, developed at the 2011 NPC and the final installment of Quiara Alegría Hudes' Pulitzer Prize-winning Elliot Trilogy, premieres at the Goodman Theatre this spring. Meg Miroshnik's The Tall Girls, part of the 2012 NPC season, will receive its world premiere at ALLIANCE THEATRE in 2014. The 2012-2013 theater season also saw world premieres of Anna Ziegler's Another Way Home, Deborah Zoe Laufer's Leveling Up, and Dan Lefranc's Troublemaker.

Executive Director Preston Whiteway remarked, "I am humbled by the sheer volume of plays we received for this summer; a remarkable endorsement of the value of the O'Neill process. My congratulations to the ten playwrights working with us this July, who will join the composers, lyricists, students, and hundreds of fellow creative artists on the O'Neill's campus."

Box Office (860-443-1238) and online ticket sales begin Wednesday, June 5; advance ticket sales are available to O'Neill Members beginning Monday, May 13. Schedules are subject to change.

For further information, call the O'Neill at (860) 443-5378, email theaterlives@theoneill.org, or visit www.theoneill.org.