Welcome
We thank you, our valued colleagues, for supporting New Dramatists and our singular mission to cultivate a fertile creative home in which playwrights become the artists they aspire to be. Our service to writers takes place one day at a time, one writer at a time. After seven decades, its cumulative effect is felt by multiple generations of writers who have created staggering bodies of work.
At the beginning of this season, New Dramatists honored our late Board Chair, Seth Gelblum, by naming the second-floor theatre space The Seth Gelblum Theatre. From his first board meeting in 1989 until his passing in 2016, Seth was a fearless and passionate advocate for New Dramatists and its writers, and a sage leader of this organization. His constant, lasting reminder is that our job is simple: "ask playwrights what they need and do our best to provide it…then ask again, to make sure we got it right."
In the Spring of 2018, our community suffered the losses of beloved Board Member emeritus and esteemed New Dramatists alumnus, Harding “Pete” Lemay, and longtime Board Member, friend and lover of playwrights, Joanne Jacobson. Their generosity as artist devotees and stewards of our organization ensured the excellence and integrity of our working environment, most importantly for the artists who work here, while also keeping the roof over our heads – literally.
We hope that each time a playwright, a collaborator, or an audience member crosses our threshold, they feel the heart of these three irreplaceable individuals whose belief in the value of generating new work for the theatre in the company of peer artists was demonstrated through many years of day-in and day-out support.
At any given time, about 50 of the American theatre’s most gifted playwrights make New Dramatists their artistic home and laboratory – not for a few weeks, or even a year – for a full seven years at no cost to them.
Please visit New Dramatists. Experience the vast imaginations of the playwrights in-residence and be a part of this rich artistic community.
- Emily Morse
- Artistic Director
- Joel K. Ruark
- Executive Director
