Our programming reflects the Center's primary goal to serve the playwright, as well as the desire to connect playwrights and audiences to fuel the theater. The Center hosts a series of introductory and advanced classes for both members and interested writers from the general public. Taught by mid-career professional playwrights, visiting fellows and national guest artists, Center classes provide intensive instruction in the art and craft of writing plays. Every Monday night, September-November, the Center holds a public reading of a play by a Core, Associate, Core Alumni or Fellowship member playwright. Every Thursday night, September-June, the Center holds a public reading of a play by a General Member playwright.
All readings are free and open to the public.
In the spring, the Center sponsors a week-long festival of public readings called Hothouse which showcases new plays by the Center s Core, Associate, and Core Alumni playwrights. Before the week of public readings, each play receives ten hours of intensive workshop time. The festival is open to the public and attracts audiences of nearly 1,000 to The Playwrights' Center. Held throughout the year, workshops offer up to 20 hours of collaboration time between writers and the directors, dramaturgs and actors of their choosing. Workshops provide playwrights with the crucial time they need to rewrite, refine, reconceive and restructure their plays.