ABOUT US
Founded in 1993 by Carolyn French, a highly successful literary agent, Playwrights First is an organization which recognizes, rewards and advances playwrights of unusual promise.
The judges of our annual contest are made up of actors, directors, producers, playwrights, teachers, authors, journalists, lawyers and business people. We believe that drama is a literary form that is fully realized in performance. In this respect, our mission to support playwrights extends beyond the boundaries of our Annual Best New Play Award. We encourage award recipients and finalists alike to progress their work and we actively seek additional opportunities for advancement on their behalf.
Margaret Edson’s play Wit was the first winner of our competition in 1993 and a reading was done at The Players Club in NYC with Marian Seldes in the lead role. Since, it has been produced both off and on Broadway by Manhattan Theatre Club and was also adapted to film, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1999.
As a finalist, Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Brevoort was brought to the attention of Women’s Project and Productions. It premiered off-Broadway in 2003 at The New Group, a co-production with Women’s Project, and has continued to inspire audiences internationally, with more than 350 productions.
In 2010, first place winner The Other Place by Sharr White premiered off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. It transferred to Broadway starring Tony Award winner Laurie Metcalf at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Margaret Edson’s play Wit was the first winner of our competition in 1993 and a reading was done at The Players Club in NYC with Marian Seldes in the lead role. Since, it has been produced both off and on Broadway by Manhattan Theatre Club and was also adapted to film, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Emma Thompson. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1999.
As a finalist, Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Brevoort was brought to the attention of Women’s Project and Productions. It premiered off-Broadway in 2003 at The New Group, a co-production with Women’s Project, and has continued to inspire audiences internationally, with more than 350 productions.
In 2010, first place winner The Other Place by Sharr White premiered off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. It transferred to Broadway starring Tony Award winner Laurie Metcalf at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
We look for:
- Imagination and originality in both style and subject or point of view.
- Characters that intrigue and move us.
- A compelling action which reveals the human condition.
- Theatricality inherent in the above.
