PlayTime November 2025

Welcome New Members of the Resident Company!

New Dramatists, an artistic home and developmental laboratory for professional playwrights, is proud to announce the addition of five writers to its illustrious, dynamic resident playwright company: 

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig 
Tony Meneses 
Jonathan Payne 
reid tang
Seayoung Yim

They will be in residence through June, 2032. These outstanding theatre artists were selected by a seven-person committee of New Dramatists current residents, alumni, and outside theatre professionals from a pool of 584 applicants after undergoing a highly competitive, ten-month review and consensus-based decision-making process. New Dramatists will kicked off their seven-year residencies in September, 2025 at the annual New Playwright Welcome, an evening of readings and celebration.

Nocturnal Commissions Writers Benefit!

Thank you to the tremendous team of commissioners, actors, directors, and brave and brilliant playwrights who joined us on Monday, October 27. Nocturnal Commissions is a one-night-only benefit evening of mini-masterpieces written in minutes by New Dramatists residents and alums, inspired by the prompts of adventurous commissioners.

Are you ready to see your a idea brought to life?

New Dramatists Mourns the Loss of Joseph A. Maffia

Joe and his artwork: Joe Maffia, in front of his personal "tag" on a graffiti tag art wall, at 118 THE LANE pizza parlor, London, July 2025.

On the morning of Friday, August 15, 2025 New Dramatists' board member Joseph A. (Joe) Maffia passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly. In the six short years that he's served on our board, Joe has become an anchor for the organization and a dear, treasured friend. All of us at New Dramatists extend our deepest condolences to Joe's wife, MJ; his daughters Jessie and Michelle; his sister and brother Roma and Maurice; his grandson Liam; and to the entirety of Joe's expansive circle of family and friends.

Welcome Zoë Rhulen, the 2025-26 Princess Grace Fellow!

Congratulations to Zoë Rhulen who received the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting for her play, Dirt. Zoë will be the Princess Grace Fellow in residence with New Dramatists for the 2025-26 season.

New Dramatists administers the application process on behalf of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA. Applications are accepted each year in early March.

After Seven Salon: Celebrating Outgoing Writers

On June 24, 2025, New Dramatists honored and celebrated playwrights, Sam Chanse, Kate Cortesi, Aurin Squire, Lloyd Suh, Mfoniso Udofia, Ken Urban, and Brian Watkins, who have completed nine years in residence at New Dramatists. Their customary seven-year residencies were extended by two years due to the pandemic.

Each writer read excerpts of their own work that spanned their time in residence, with Mfoniso Udofia represented by fellow writers Nkenna Akunna, Kate Cortesi, and Monet Hurst-Mendoza. Tributes and remarks were shared by alumni Barbara Hammond, Chisa Hutchinson, and Matthew Freeman; current residents Phllip Christian Smith and Deborah Yarchun; staff leaders Emily Morse and Christie Brown, and board president Abbie Van Nostrand.

Article in Forbes

The New Dramatists Spring Luncheon was covered in Forbes Magazine, in an article entitled, "How New Dramatists Shapes Generations of Playwrights from Page to Stage"

Boy, do we feel seen!

Houghton Hall Arts Community: Our Home Away from Home

New Dramatists, a playwright development organization that supports playwrights through seven-year residencies, is itself “in residence” during the current season: It is with gratitude that we announce the totality of our work – administrative and artistic - is taking place at Houghton Hall Arts Community, 22 East 30th Street, while we assess and conduct needed repairs to our building on 44th Street.  

New Dramatists' Statement of Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion

The principles of equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion (EDAI) are embedded in the founding of our organization. To read our EDAI mission and values statement, and to learn about the process for articulating this community statement and putting it into practice, please click here