'Thespis' Tradition: For Years, Student Playwrights Gather At O'Neill

WATERFORD, CT —The young playwrights who apply largely come from New London County high schools, but also from schools across the state and region. The invited writers spend a weekend at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center with a creative team including a director, actors, and a dramaturge, the person who advises and liaises between playwright and director.

The goal is to help teen playwrights "develop their short plays based on the principles and techniques of the O'Neill's renowned National Playwrights Conference," the O'Neill explains.

"Students receive a rigorous exploration of their work guided by professional artists as well as a script-in-hand public reading of their new play," the theater explains.

Since 2008, young playwrights from local schools including Waterford High School, Clark Lane Middle School and Robert E. Fitch Sr. High School in Groton, as well as in some years, teen thespians from as far away as Colorado have applied and been invited to attend the fest, held in May.

The festival's mission is to provide young artists, ages 12 to 18, an opportunity to improve their writing and give them experience with playwriting as a craft and discipline, according to the O'Neill. The festival begins with two days of rehearsal and culminates with a script-in-hand reading.

"In addition to the five Featured Playwrights whose work is selected for a weekend of development, the O'Neill welcomes a number of students to attend as Guest Playwrights," the theater notes. "Guest Playwrights will observe the development processes, attend playwriting workshops and rehearsals, and hear their scripts read aloud."

See the list of young playwrights, including their school, location, play title, here.

From the O'Neill:

"The Young Playwrights Festival began in 2006 with only a handful of playwrights submitting from a single school. It has now grown to include hundreds of submissions from scores of schools— both local and national. Sophia Chapadjiev, Director of Education, has been running the festival and teaching in-school playwriting workshops since 2008."

About the O'Neill

The Launchpad of American Theater, the O’Neill is the country’s preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the stage.

Founded in 1964 by George C. White and named in honor of Eugene O’Neill, four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner and America’s only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, the O'Neill has launched some of the most important voices and works in American theater and has revolutionized the way new work is developed.

Among the hundreds of plays and musicals developed and premiered at the O'Neill are such notable works as John Guare's The House Of Blue Leaves; Brian Crawley and Jeanine Tesori's Violet; Wendy Wasserstein's Uncommon Women and Others; August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and The Piano Lesson; Lee Blessing's A Walk In The Woods; Nine by Arthur Kopit, Mario Fratti, and Maury Yeston; Avenue Q by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx, and Jeff Whitty; In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes; [title of show] by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell; and Jennifer Haley's The Nether.

Stay tuned for Eugene O'Neill Theater Center summer 2023 ticket information here.