TAKE TEN 2024
Join us at 7:00pm April 26th, 2024
at Theatre Row (410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036)
for a reading presentation of new 10-minute plays by these emerging playwrights.
at Theatre Row (410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036)
for a reading presentation of new 10-minute plays by these emerging playwrights.
comfort ifeoma katchycomfort ifeoma katchy, a native Houstonian, is a second-year MFA Playwriting Candidate at the school of drama at Yale. Her plays, The Alley and Stray Dogs were most recently workshopped for the Langston Hughes Festival and the New Play Lab. She was most recently seen on stage at the Yale Cabaret in Pride of Doves, written by her classmate Doug Robinson. Cheers 🥂
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Connor JohnsonConnor is a co-founder of Footpath Theatre Company, a band of adventurers who have performed in Salt Lake City, New York City, and, most recently, Edinburgh. Connor’s play Ronald and Edith won Best of Fringe at the 2021 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival. His play The Wreck of the Queen Thomasina premiered at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival to (some) rave reviews and (nearly) sold out houses. He is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah– no, he is not Mormon; he is currently working towards an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Arkansas.
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Natalie LambertNatalie Grace Lambert is a first-year MFA Playwright at UCLA. She is from southern California, where she spent her adolescence studying classical ballet and raising dairy cattle. She is currently preparing for a workshop of her one-act play titled Merely Players, which will go up at UCLA this spring. She describes this play as her math play. Natalie is also a filmmaker; she directed her first short film Like Me More this fall, which is available on YouTube. Outside of theatre, Natalie dedicates her time to advocating for climate justice, animal welfare, and habitat restoration.
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Alley MerkelAlly Merkel is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Her work has been seen onstage at The Tank, The Road Theatre Company, The Fled Collective, New Perspectives Theatre Company’s Meganne George Women’s Work Short Play Festival, the StageFemmes One-Act Festival, and online with The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues. She has developed plays with the Under Construction Playwrights Group at The Road Theatre Company and with The COOP’s Clusterf**ck vol 3 working group. Ally is a 2023 Seven Devils Conference finalist, a 2024 National Playwrights Conference semi-finalist, and a 24 Hour Plays: Nationals alumna. MFA: New York University (exp. 2025).
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Gretchen Suárez-PeñaGretchen Suárez-Peña (she/her) is a Puerto Rican playwright graduating with her MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University (2024). She is an advisory board member of Conch Shell Productions (NY) and the book writer for "The Fairy's Tale" (music/lyrics by Michael Mott). Her piece "Searching for Abuelo" won first place at the 2023 Voices of Women Theatre Festival, best full-length play at the 2023 Tampa Bay Theatre Festival, and was an official selection of the 2024 NYC Downtown Urban Arts Festival. Her short play, "The Arithmetic of Memory," was the 2023 Gary Garrison National Ten-Minute Play Award Winner. gretchensuarezpena.com
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Emma WatkinsEmma Watkins is a writer from New Jersey and Maine, currently pursuing her MFA in Playwriting at UT Austin. Emma’s plays have been finalists for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the Princess Grace Playwriting Award, and the Leah Ryan Prize, semifinalists for the O’Neill and Clubbed Thumb’s Biennial Commission, and included on the Playwrights’ Center’s Venturous List. She’s currently under commission from South Coast Repertory and has developed work with support from the Kennedy Center and PlayPenn. Beyond writing, she loves foraging for chanterelles and writing short stories and music. BA Princeton University, MA Cardiff University. emmacwatkins.com
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Bridging the Gap between Playwrights' Education and Career
Theater Masters hosts a national 10-minute playwriting competition among the students at the top MFA programs in the country. Out of 60+ submissions, 6-7 winning plays are selected by a reading panel made up of industry professionals.
Once selected, the MFA playwrights are given feedback to further develop their plays. They are then flown to New York City where they are able to observe the process of putting their plays into production, with a team of professional actors, directors and designers, culminating in a three night run of their work at a reputable New York City theater.
During this New York production week, Theater Masters also provide the playwrights with "Wonder Week," during which we arrange meetings with the top agents, literary managers, and artistic directors in the industry, offer them professional development panels with working playwrights, and introduce them to the writers' guilds as well as major theaters in NYC. This is a unique and career-starting program for these young playwrights that has launched the careers of our many successful alumni.
We are the only organization to bridge the gap between the training playwrights receive in their MFA programs and the professional careers that lay ahead of them.
Once selected, the MFA playwrights are given feedback to further develop their plays. They are then flown to New York City where they are able to observe the process of putting their plays into production, with a team of professional actors, directors and designers, culminating in a three night run of their work at a reputable New York City theater.
During this New York production week, Theater Masters also provide the playwrights with "Wonder Week," during which we arrange meetings with the top agents, literary managers, and artistic directors in the industry, offer them professional development panels with working playwrights, and introduce them to the writers' guilds as well as major theaters in NYC. This is a unique and career-starting program for these young playwrights that has launched the careers of our many successful alumni.
We are the only organization to bridge the gap between the training playwrights receive in their MFA programs and the professional careers that lay ahead of them.
Anthology by Samuel French
We are excited to announce that A Concord Theatrical Company: Samuel French is publishing an annual anthology of the winning plays from our National MFA Playwrights Festival. Order your acting edition - a perfect-bound script for use in production or as a reading edition. |
Past National Adjudicators
Martyna Majok 2022
James Anthony Tyler 2021 Craig Lucas and Dave Auburn 2020 Craig Lucas 2019 David Auburn 2018 Abe Koogler 2017 Alexander Maggio 2016 Kathleen Chalfant 2015 Robert LuPone 2014 Theresa Rebeck 2013 A.R. Gurney 2012 Eric Bogosian 2011 |
Lanford Wilson 2010
Gordon Davidson 2009 John Lithgow 2008 John Guare 2007 Alfred Uhry 2006 Christopher Durang 2005 Terrence McNally 2004 William Luce 2003 |