"NPI was a wonderful development platform for me. From the initial reading through the highly produced workshop to the eventual production, the whole creative team was working towards the single goal to tell the story of my play in the best possible fashion. It was a professional and nurturing environment. And these people take risks - I write experimental non-linear plays, and this one was set in
Program Outline
(Click here to for PDF of Program Outline and the NPI application)
GTC’s New Play Initiative (NPI) is an intensive play development program in contest form. We are looking for exciting new works that are practical for mid-size theaters to produce. Grove Theater Center, in our fourteen-year history, has developed and worked on new plays with many of the traditional tools – informal readings, staged readings, workshops, and full productions. This NPI is the codification of all of these play development tools into a single, cohesive, program.
The New Play Initiative is a tiered program. We will choose a minimum of 4 finalists, 2 workshop winners and one full-production winner. At each level, there are readings and cash royalty awards paid to each playwright. The readings, workshops, and the final production will all be directed by GTC Artistic Director Kevin Cochran. Selection of the scripts will be done by Cochran, Executive Director Charles Johanson, and NPI Literary Manager Sondi Kroeger Foley, GTC Board Member Ruth Seigle and other theater professionals. (There is a $20 submission fee.)
Finalists: A minimum of four finalists will be chosen. Each receives a $100 royalty award and a reading of the play with a professional cast. These readings are informal readings with no staging in front of a small audience with a moderated discussion afterward. Preparation will include several discussions with the director beforehand and about 8 hours rehearsal with the director, cast, and playwright. Playwright and director will also meet after the reading for further discussion. Acceptance of the award includes granting GTC an option for producing the play if it goes on to be the winner of the contest. All rights revert back to the playwright if the play is not selected as a workshop winner and then winner.
Workshop Winners: A minimum of two workshop winners will be chosen from the semi-finalists. They each receive an additional $100 royalty award and a workshop production with an audience and a moderated discussion afterwards. The workshop productions are presented “on their feet” with actors carrying scripts. Basic suggestions of set, costumes, props, and other technical needs will be provided as needed to tell the story. These readings will rehearse for one week (about 32 hours) with cast, director and playwright.
Full Production Winner: One winner receives an additional $300 royalty award (for a total of $500) and a full production.
What we’re looking for...
Full-length, original plays or musicals (translations and adaptations are acceptable as long as the playwright clearly has the rights to the source material). By full-length, we mean any script with a running time over 80 minutes that is able to stand on its own as an evening of theater.
• The script must be unencumbered (no contractual or verbal commitments to producers, theaters, directors or actors at this time).
• The script must have had no previous professional productions (including 99-seat theater productions in Los Angeles County that received reviews). Amateur productions, readings, and previous workshops are fine. It’s important for GTC to be able to legitimately call this a world premiere.
• The play must be practical for a small professional theater to produce. While we’re not setting any specific limits, this does mean a manageable cast size is a plus (anything over 8 starts to become an issue); a production concept which either is fairly simple (one naturalistic set) or easily conceptualized (forty locations identified by sound); no next to impossible casting requirements (the lead character absolutely must be played by a concert level pianist who can also juggle flaming torches and speak fluent Lithuanian).
• Playwrights must be able to be present for rehearsals and readings.
“GTC was amazing in helping me take my musical Blake...da Musical! to the next level. I was able to bring my ideas for the show into their theater and have each one of them realized, and then some. Kevin Cochran Co-Directed with me and he was a pleasure to work with. He helped develop the characters and make a very strong story, even stronger. Kevin is so talented in knowing what works and doesn't work, and he is especially great at communicating that to the people he works with. Charles (Johanson) is one of the most savvy producers I have ever worked with, In TV or theater. Charles can make the impossible happen, and sometimes before you even ask for it. The sets, the cast, the production was truly a thing of beauty.”
-Rick Batalla, writer, co-director, and star of NPI winner, and Ovation Award Winner for Best World Premiere Musical Blake...da Musical!
"Working with Kevin (Cochran) and GTC was invaluable. Kevin has an exttraordinary sense of what works and doesn't work on-stage. He's patient, enthusiastic and has a deep understanding of what writers are trying ---sometines struggling --to say. GTC also manages to find some of the most talented stage actors in
Bernie Weinraub, author of "The Accomplices," which began in workship at GTC, was performed in 2007 by The New Group in NYC and received a Drama Desk Award nomination for best new play of the year.
"GTC simply does a tremendous job developing new plays through a variety of techniques, including table reads, staged readings and ongoing discussions with directors, actors and other theater professionals. Kevin and Charles hit the right balance of providing helpful insights into the script and sound approaches to its development, while at the same time respecting the fact that it remains the playwright's work. If all NPI provided was an opportunity to develop a new play, it would be well worth it. But NPI does more than just development: This is one theater that is dedicated to producing, rather than simply developing, new work."
James McLindon, author of NPI winning play Dusk
“Simply put, winning the NPI and the subsequent production of my play at GTC was the most wholly satisfying experience of my writing career. Kevin Cochran is one of the most thoughtful, talented and collaborative directors with whom I've had the pleasure to work. Kevin, Charles and the entire GTC community set up an open, creative, and democratic environment for both writers and actors which bring out the very best in each of them. One of the reasons I started writing plays – and continue to write plays -- is for experiences like the NPI. It seems to me that if you value the American theater, and trust that it still has a vital role to play, then the NPI and programs like it must be supported and encouraged. Thank God, there are still programs like the NPI and people like Kevin and Charles who value new plays and voices. The world would be a much less interesting place without them.”
David Hogan, Author of GTC’s first NPI winning play, Capital
"I only wish I had more time to share my enthusiasm about