Runyonland Productions to Launch SPARE KEY SERIES for New Playwrights

​Producers Thomas Laub and Alyah Chanelle Scott for Runyonland will launch the Runyonland Spare Key Series, a commercial new play development initiative designed to support up to five early-career playwrights in creating a new play for the American stage.

The Runyonland Spare Key Series aims to bridge the gap between off-Broadway work, non-profit commissions and commercial Broadway engagements by offering significant financial support, collaborative artistic development and a pathway to future production. The playwrights selected for the program will receive a $25,000 commission and develop one new, full length play over the course of one year. These playwrights will collaborate with each other throughout the developmental process and participate in monthly, in-person writer's group sessions. They will have the support from a dramaturg as well as the financial support to attach a director and workshop their piece with actors during development. The writers will also participate in structured mentorship sessions with veteran playwrights and a joint writer's retreat. At the conclusion of the program in the Fall of 2027, Runyonland will host a reading of each play, open to the public, celebrating each writer's process and potential next steps in commercial production.

Nan Barnett, Executive Director of the National New Play Network weighed in on the Runyonland Spare Key Series. "Theater thrives when playwrights are given not only resources, but also the time, community, and artistic support to take creative risks,” said Barnett. “Programs like the Runyonland Spare Key Series, by investing in writers at inflection points in their careers, can be a boon when most needed. National New Play Network applauds initiatives like Spare Key that expand opportunities for playwrights to make new work and help build the robust, equitable, diverse, sustainable new play ecosystem NNPN believes the American theater and audiences everywhere deserve.”