New Play Development

Risk.

More than anything, that’s what developing new work involves.

When a new play is emerging from whatever idea inspired it, there are no guarantees that it will work, that it will be embraced by audiences, or that it will be a fiscally sound project. In fact, very little can be known about an emerging idea, aside from an artist’s belief that it matters to explore it.

We are artists. Core to our mission – both as an organization and as artists – is a conviction that making new work matters. So we take the inherent risks. As artists, we consider it our mandate to create, to explore, to poke, to dig, to expose, to inquire, to push, to search, to traverse the untested ground of the new.

More than that, we believe that developing new work is important to our audiences and to the broader field of theater artists around the country and the world.

We are proud to have a decades-long legacy of generating new work. We are honored that plays developed, commissioned and produced first by us sometimes go on to publication, and often go on to be produced by other theaters around the country.

Commissioned playwrights are individuals who have established a relationship with us over time. If you are interested in submitting your play for possible production, please send the following materials to Julia Laurenson, Artistic Producer at jhlaurenson@metroplays.org. Do not send full manuscripts unless specifically requested.

• Letter of introduction

• Resume

• Short sample of dialogue (3-5 pages max)

• Scenario for proposed play

• Letters of recommendation from directors who have worked with you