NNPN Commissions Four DC-Based Playwrights for National Showcase

The NATIONAL NEW PLAY NETWORK (NNPN), the country's alliance of non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays, proudly announces the commission of four podcast plays by DC-based playwrights, to be presented during its 2012 National Showcase of New Plays. Short works by Paige Hernandez, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Stephen Spotswood and Gwydion Suilebhan will be recorded onto iPod Shuffles and depart the Woolly Mammoth lobby in four directions – respectively, North, West, South and East – at all hours during the Showcase, November 29 – December 2.

"When Washington was awarded the 2012 Showcase, we committed to shining a light on DC's dynamic playwriting community," says Executive Director Jason Loewith. "Who better to introduce visiting artists to the Nation's Capital than these four extraordinary and extraordinarily diverse DC writers?"

The four commissioned podcast plays are the centerpiece of NNPN's ongoing initiative to introduce local voices to new-play practitioners from all over the country. Additional DC-specific programs during the Showcase include a mixer with metro-area literary managers and dramaturgs, and a Playwrights' Reception hosted by Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz and Board Member Pete Miller on Friday, November 30. All these programs are generously supported by local new-play champions Susan and Dixon Butler, Louis and Bonnie Cohen, and Pete Miller and Sarah Cormeny.