MFA Playwrights’ Workshop

A partnership between the Kennedy Center Education Department (the American College Theatre Festival) and Stanford University’s National Center for New Plays, the annual MFA Playwrights’ Workshop (MFAPW) provides six to eight graduate students with an eight-day workshop for their plays and a unique professional development opportunity that links them to Network theaters.

Universities are asked to nominate current MFA candidates for the program, and those who are selected are paired with professional directors and dramaturgs from NNPN member theaters—recognized leaders with years of experience in the development of new work—and Washington, DC-based professional actors. The process gives young writers an education in professional play development, unparalleled mentorship in the creation of their work, and a valuable entrée to some of the country’s most vital new play theaters.

The Kennedy Center often invites other professional theaters or developmental centers to workshop a play during the same week, allowing the participating student playwrights and dramaturgs opportunities for interaction with potential collaborators such as the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, which joins the Workshop annually with its upcoming Kendeda Prize Winner.

The Workshop now links to more than 70 MFA programs across the country, and scripts developed at the MFAPW have gone on to productions at NNPN member theaters as well as nationally recognized companies. Featured writers often move into other NNPN programs such as Residencies or Commissions, and their work is presented at the National Showcase of New Plays and as Rolling World Premieres, as the program often serves as an entry point to the new-play pipeline NNPN has created.

These are the playwrights who have participated in the MFA Playwrights’ Workshop since its inception in 2006.

2020 MFA Playwrights

• 
  Aja Nisenson

  Love, University of Iowa

• 
  Dave Osmundsen

  The Dummy Class, Arizona State University

• 
  Eliana Theologides Rodriguez

  Poor Queenie, New York University undergrad

• 
  Keiko Green

  Hometown Boy, UCSD

• 
  Libby Carr

  sad girl hours, UT Austin undergrad

• 
  Lindsay Carpenter

  Our Black Death, New York University

• 
  Lucas Baisch

  404 Not Found, Brown University

• 
  Matthew Libby

  Data, New York University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Micah Ariel Watson

  Alaiyo, New York University

Alumni MFA Playwrights

• 
  A. Zell Williams

  Urban Retreat, New York University

• 
  Ali Viterbi

  In Every Generation, University of California, San Diego

• 
  Alix Sobler

  Sheltered, Columbia University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Amanda Jane Shank

  The Glass Man, CalArts

• 
  Amelia Roper

  She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Amy E. Witting

  House on the Hill (Alumni Project)
  Day 392, Hunter College

• 
  Amy Tofte

  White Devil Loving Mother, CalArts

• 
  Andrew Heinrich

  Flood, Texas State University

• 
  Andrew Hinderaker

  Colossal, The University of Texas at Austin

• 
  Anna Moench

  Mothers, University of California, San Diego

• 
  Aurin Squire

  A Family Manual for Kwanzaa, The Juilliard School

• 
  Ayanna Maia Saulsberry

  King Nigga, New York University

• 
  B.J. Tindal

  Goodnight Tyler, Northwestern University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Bennett Fisher

  Borealis, University of California, San Diego

• 
  Bruce Walsh

  Berserker, Indiana University

• 
  Carly Mensch

  All Hail Hurricane Gordo, The Juilliard School

• 
  Cary Simowitz

  Djarum Vanilla, University of California, Los Angeles

• 
  Chad Eschman

  The Memory Tax, Northwestern University

• 
  Charles Green

  P o l a r i s (a tragedy expansion pack), Iowa Playwrights Workshop

• 
  Charly Evon Simpson

  *Sandblasted* (Alumni Project)
  Jump, Hunter College

• 
  Chelsea Woolley

  *These Peaceable Kingdoms,* National Theatre School of Canada

• 
  Chloé Hung

  Issei, He Say (or the Myth of the First), New York University

• 
  Chris Weikel

  Embrace, Hunter College

• 
  Courtney Meaker

  You Must Wear A Hat, University of Iowa

• 
  Dan LeFranc

  *The Many Means of Mother Meenie and Untitled*( Alumni Project)
  Origin Story, Brown University

• 
  Dano Madden

  The Weathly Life of Sam Tyler, Rutgers University

• 
  Daria Miyeko Marinelli

  A Departure, University of Texas at Austin

• 
  Dave Harris

  Incendiary, University of California, San Diego

• 
  David Jacobi

  Widower, University of California, San Deigo

• 
  David Mitchell Robinson

  Carapace, Ohio University

• 
  Dominic Finocchiaro

  The Found Dog Ribbon Dance, Columbia University

• 
  Drew Paryzer

  Alter, The University of Texas at Austin

• 
  Eleanor Burgess

  Start Down, New York University (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Elena Belyea

  Cleave, National Theatre School of Canada

• 
  Eliana Pipes

  The Cowboy and the Moon, Boston University

• 
  Erica Lipez

  Bottled Up, New York University

• 
  Geoffrey Simon Brown

  Still, Still, Still, National Theatre School of Canada

• 
  Georgette Kelly

  The Jonah Play, Hunter College

• 
  Hansol Jung

  Undesirables, Yale School of Drama (in association with Seattle Repertory Theatre)

• 
  Hilary Bettis

  *The Ghosts of Lote Bravo, *The Juilliard School

• 
  Jacob Margaret Archer

  All I Want Is to be Happy Sometimes, National Theatre School of Canada

• 
  Jason Williamson

  Goat Song for Asa Jacobs, Carnegie Mellon University

• 
  Jennifer Barclay

  Red Helen, University of California, San Diego

• 
  Jennifer Fawcett

  Birthwives and Witches (Alumni Project)
  The Toymaker’s War, University of Iowa

• 
  Jiréh Breon Holder

  Too Heavy for Your Pocket, Yale School of Drama (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Joe Giovannetti

  The Promotion, Northwestern University

• 
  Johnna Adams

  Lingua Ignota (Alumni Project)
  Skinless, Hunter College

• 
  Josh Wilder

  Leftover, Yale School of Drama (The Lorraine Hansberry Workshop, in association with Company One)

• 
  Joshua Allen

  The Last Pair of Earlies, The Juilliard School

• 
  Julia Izumi

  miku, and the gods., Brown University

• 
  Kate Tarker

  An Almanac for Farmers and Lovers in Mexico, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Kelly Lusk

  (a love story), Indiana University

• 
  Kimberly Rosenstock

  Tigers, Be Still, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Kira Rockwell

  Oh, to be Pure Again, Boston University

• 
  Kristin Simpson

  Four Days in the Delta, University of New Mexico

• 
  Laura Jacqmin

  Butt Nekkid, Ohio University

• 
  Leonard Madrid

  Volver Volver Volver, University of New Mexico

• 
  Lia Romeo

  *Green Whales* (Alumni Project)
  Right Place, Right Time, Rutgers University

• 
  Lila Rose Kaplan

  *The Bureau of Missing Persons, *University of California, San Diego

• 
  Lindsey Ferrentino

  This Flat Earth, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Lori Fischer

  Real Life Drama, New York University

• 
  Madhuri Shekar

  In Love and Warcraft, University of Southern California

• 
  Marco Ramirez

  Broadsword, The Juilliard School

• 
  Marisela Treviño Orta

  Shoe, University of Iowa

• 
  Martyna Majok

  The Friendship of Her Thighs, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Martín Zimmerman

  *White Tie Ball,* The University of Texas at Austin

• 
  Matt Bukovac

  Furies, New York University

• 
  Matthew Capodicasa

  Vessels, Fordham University

• 
  Mauricio Miranda

  Occupants, Indiana University

• 
  Megan Breen

  My Fist, My Fist, My Bleeding Seeded Spirit, University of Southern California

• 
  Meridith Friedman

  *The Luckiest People* (Alumni Project)
  Blue Monday, Nothwestern University

• 
  Michael Mitnick

  Sex Lives of Our Parents, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Michael Yates Crowley

  The Tourists, The Juilliard School

• 
  Mike Lew

  Bike America, The Juilliard School

• 
  Miranda Rose Hall

  *The Hour of Great Mercy, *Yale School of Drama

• 
  Nathan Alan Davis

  The Wind and the Breeze, Indiana University

• 
  Nathan Cann

  The Last Buckley, New York University

• 
  Peter Floyd

  Centipede King, Boston University

• 
  RN Healey

  Vanishing Act, Carnegie Mellon University

• 
  Rachel Bykowski

  Tight End, Ohio University

• 
  Reina Hardy

  The Claire Play, The University of Texas at Austin

• 
  Riti Sachdeva

  Parts and Parts of Stitches, Univeristy of New Mexico 

• 
  Ronald McCants

  The Peacock Men, University of California, San Diego

• 
  Sam Hunter

  Atlasing Sodom, The Juilliard School

• 
  Sam Lahne

  Right, University of Iowa

• 
  Sam Marks

  The Real Deal, Brown University

• 
  Samantha Noble

  Franklin, Boston University

• 
  Sean Christopher Lewis

  Militant Language, University of Iowa

• 
  Steph Del Rosso

  53% of, University of California, San Diego (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Stephanie Timm

  Picked, University of California, San Diego

• 
  Steve Yockey

  Reykjavik (Alumni Project)
  Afterlife: A Ghost Story, New York University

• 
  Susan Soon He Stanton

  Untitled TMT Play (Alumni Project)

• 
  Susan Stanton

  The Underneath, Yale School of Drama

• 
  Sylvia Khoury

  Against the Hillside, The New School

• 
  Tatiana Suarez-Pico

  Flesh and Blood, The Juilliard School

• 
  Tearrance Chisholm

  Black Woman Authority, The Catholic University of America

• 
  Tim J. Lord

  *On Every Link A Heart Does Dangle* (Alumni Project)
  The Secret History of Caleb Caan, University of California, San Diego

   

• 
  Tom Diggs

  The Fairness Doctrine (Fair and Decent), New York University

• 
  Tom Horan

  Static, The University of Texas at Austin

• 
  Tsehaye Hebert

  The C.A. Lyons Project, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Alliance Theatre Kendeda Prize)

• 
  Walt McGough

  True Places, Boston University

• 
  Will Snider

  How to Use a Knife, University of California, San Diego