MCC Theater Playwrights’ Coalition is a development and support organization for emerging and mid-career New York City playwrights. Membership is at the invitation of the Literary Manager Stephen Willems, Literary Associate Jaime Green and Coalition Coordinator Mark Schultz, and is based on considerable and sustained knowledge of a playwright’s body of work. These playwrights include some of the most exciting, talented, and important writers of this generation.

Current members and alumni include David Adjmi, Mike Batistick, Stephen Belber, Brooke Berman, Adam Bock, Julia Cho, Jorge Ignacio Cortinas, Cusi Cram, Anton Dudley, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Daniel Goldfarb, Ashlin Halfknight, Ann Marie Healy, Joe Hortua, Julia Jordan, Oren Lavie, Dan LeFranc, Kara Manning, Rami Metal, Ed Napier, Adam Rapp, Mark Schultz, Julian Sheppard, Rambir Sidhu, Blair Singer, Crystal Skillman, Gary Sunshine, Adam Szymkowicz, Lucy Thurber and Kate Walat. Click here to for coalition members' bio info.

The core of our services is the six-week Intensive. Three to five playwrights meet weekly with the Literary Associate and the Coalition Coordinator (himself a playwright and dramaturg) to develop a project by reading pages aloud and offering analytic response. Feedback is tailored to the needs of the writer and the stage of development of the piece. The series culminates in a table reading of the work, attended by Intensive participants, trusted ears whose presence the playwright requests, and the Literary Manager, who facilitates valuable feedback with the artists involved and the dramaturgical staff of the theater.

We offer roundtable readings to the members of our Coalition not only in conjunction with the Intensive series, but as often as the playwrights need on an unlimited basis. This is often a crucial service to playwrights, allowing them to hear their play read by seasoned actors in a non-threatening environment whenever and as often as they need to hear a draft. These readings have proven a truly collaborative experience, where the playwright can get feedback from other artists under the careful dramaturgical guidance of MCC’s Literary Department.

This developmental work is supplemented by several events designed to encourage a network of support. These social events offer valuable community among fellow writers, helping to alleviate the isolation of the writing process and facilitating the sharing of experiences, fears, and ambitions. As each playwright has new readings, workshops, and productions, Coalition Salons and Socials provide a forum for the sharing of rehearsal techniques, collaborators, presenters, and developmental procedures.

Among these support services are the Artist Interface with the playwright of each Mainstage production. This playwright meets with the Coalition to share firsthand the experience of being produced at MCC, what expectations he or she had and how they were met or not met, as well as experiences at other organizations around the world. We also offer the Salon Series, which brings in artists in creative fields both within and without the theater, but whose craft is not playwriting, to talk about their creative processes. This series provides important and stimulating insights into how other people are inspired and realize their inspirations. Lastly, we provide less structured forums for member playwrights to share experiences, hopes, fears, and dreams with one another, sharing the wealth of information and easing the isolation of writing.

Click here to for coalition members' bio info.