The New Jersey Play Lab is an artistic home for playwrights and dramaturgs of all career levels who seek collaboration, methodology, and excellence in their work. At each and every point of engagement at The New Jersey Play Lab, the focus is on providing the knowledge and opportunity to move forward in one’s artistic and professional journey. While some of our programming is limited to New Jersey-based artists, much of our programming has no regional restrictions.
Our Mission || Our Vision + Our Story || Our Methodology || Our Programs
Our Mission
The mission of The New Jersey Play Lab is to support playwrights and dramaturgs in the creation of dramaturgically sound, impactful work in The Garden State and beyond.
Our definition of “dramaturgically sound” is that all of the choices being made in the play are in full and robust support of the playwright’s intentions with the work. We aim to support playwrights to achieve the purest intention of the stories they want to manifest in form, content and impact.
The New Jersey Play Lab (NJPL) offers a host of programs, opportunities, and dramaturgical services for playwrights and dramaturgs of all career levels to further develop their work and their craft. Be it our early career foundational programming, play development forums, dramaturgical services, professional partnership projects, or our internship and mentoring opportunities, all NJPL programming has been carefully designed to foster an appreciation for what we deem to be best practices in playmaking.
Our Vision + Our Story
The kernel of the idea for the NJPL came shortly after co-founder Cheryl Katz stepped down from her position as Artistic Director of Luna Stage. When looking back over her tenure, she realized that the two things that stood out to her most were the new works she had championed and the community she had created. She decided she wanted to find a way to continue to support writers to bring their plays to a place where they were ready to be produced, and create another big tent of an arts organization where all would feel welcomed and valued. She also wanted to build upon her contribution to the ongoing state-wide effort to have NJ be recognized and appreciated as a regional hub of innovative and exciting new work. Recognizing that she always did her most thoughtful and impactful work with dramaturg Kaitlin Stilwell firmly by her side, she asked Kaitlin to partner with her in this new venture. Thankfully, she said yes.
The NJPL has gone through many changes since its founding in 2019. We have consistently honed and adjusted our programming to be more impactful in meeting the needs of the field, and we have learned how to articulate and institutionalize a methodology and approach to dramaturgy that up until that point had just been instinctual. We have mentored and welcomed a diverse collective of dramaturgs to collaborate with us in the furthering of our mission, and we have discovered that our company best expands our impact by empowering each of these dramaturgs to conceptualize and actualize their own vision for a new NJPL program that will serve the field.
So, over time, rather organically, we have created a tiered offering of programs for playwrights and dramaturgs of every career level to find the right access point through which to grow their craft and to deepen their understanding and appreciation for the place of dramaturgy in their artistry. Our methodology, commitment to a depth of craft, and attention to detail is held in common across each project and program, but the aesthetic and form of each project is as varied as the NJPL Collective Dramaturg who initiated it.
Our Methodology
We believe simultaneously that the playwright is the sole owner, expert, and architect of their play, AND that a dramaturg can provide objectivity and expertise in illuminating the current state of the work, paths forward, and modes of craft. We believe these truths are complementary and that the strongest work is born of their coexistence.
A standard definition of “dramaturgy” is the theory and practice of dramatic composition.
We use the term “comprehensive hands-on dramaturgy” to describe our approach because it implies that we are going to be active partners to playwrights in the development process and bring the fullness of our experience, intuition, and artistry to each and every collaboration. However, we can’t bring this “hands-on approach” without ensuring that we are always working 100% in service of the playwright’s intentions, not our own interests, experiences, or tastes.
Therefore, the first stage of all of our dramaturgical processes is deep, active listening. We need to clearly understand what the playwright is trying to do with and within their play to ensure that all we bring to the table will be in service of those intentions. Sometimes these intentions take time to articulate, so we ask questions— a lot of questions—until we find the answers that we all deem the strongest, most true, and most useful in service of the play.
Stage two of our process is what we call dramatic alignment. This step involves helping the playwright to ensure that all of the choices being made in the play are in service of conveying their intentions with the work to an audience. In other words, does what is in the playwright’s head align with what is actually on the page? This is what we mean when we say “dramaturgically sound”.
Our process for each play is fluid, exploratory, extremely flexible, and can be adapted to any dramatic storytelling form. Dramatic alignment can look very different depending on the intentions behind the work, but we hold this goal as the foundation of our approach because it is what we believe underpins impactful dramatic storytelling in any form.
We believe that through this process of questioning and articulation, people learn to think critically, both in their art and in their lives, and that these skills of dramaturgy can be incredibly valuable in all forms of communication, collaboration, and activism.
Craft.
Although we are not playwriting teachers, our goal in all of our dramaturgical processes is for playwrights not only to be confident that their plays work, but for them to know WHY and HOW they work. This understanding of craft leads playwrights towards a knowledge of how their specific play functions and allows playwrights to be able to make effective, deliberate revisions in support of their artistic goals.
We believe craft includes structure, recognizing that the structure of any given play is dictated by the style, tone, form, and tradition of the play. We believe craft includes revision: that, like appreciating an impressionist painting, each draft of the play is like a step back further away from the painting.
Our work asks that artists be willing to identify their intentions and consider the impact of their work on audiences. We recognize that artists who work mostly or wholly instinctively or prefer to work only from their subconscious may find this process is not for them. However, our experience has led us to believe that at some point in the process of taking a play from the page to the stage, inspiration benefits from making room for articulation and clarity of intention.
Expertise.
The co-founders of The New Jersey Play Lab have a combined experience of over 45 years of developing new plays for the stage, many of which have been as a collaborative team. We have worked with writers of varying degrees of experience, who write in an array of styles, under all sorts of timelines. What has allowed us to be successful in each of these collaborations is our ability to be flexible enough to adapt to the needs/style/language of the playwright while still acting from our core principles of craft and a rigorous pursuit of excellence.
We recognize that there are many roads to expertise, and ours represents only one road. Our collective dramaturgs come from a wide variety of backgrounds and bring diverse experiences and skill sets. One of our core values in identifying and mentoring NJPL dramaturgs is the recognition that different experience is not lesser experience, and that the skill sets that support good dramaturgy are not limited to any particular education or career path.
Production-ready plays.
Our programming and projects are extremely varied in terms of time frame, intensity, and experience level of the participating artists. Some programs are more focused on process and growth, while others may be designed to result in what we term a production-ready draft over a set period of time. The notion of developing plays to the point of being production-ready was one of the early drivers behind the formation of The NJPL.
In most instances, new plays are developed through disconnected short workshops and readings at multiple companies and institutions over a period of years. This can lead to a play remaining “in development” for an extended period of time, and to a playwright responding to many voices and perhaps contradictory feedback.
At The NJPL, we offer alternative paths for playwrights to bring their plays to the stage of being “production-ready” through providing means of continuity in the development process.
Unlike the state of being “publication ready,” in which a script has arrived at a fixed state and is no longer anticipated to change, plays that are “production ready” have arrived at a state of clarity in which:
- The playwright has a firm grasp of their intentions (what they want to say, and what they want the audience to take away) and their execution (understanding why and how their play works) to ensure that they enter into and come out of a first production with their vision intact.
- That many of the major questions of the text have been satisfactorily addressed, and that the remaining questions are best explored within a rehearsal process.
- The play has been developed to the point where its deliberate, thoughtful construction elevates and underpins its subject matter to create outstanding and important theatre.
Through our partnership projects such as The Garden State New Play Festival with Jersey City Theater Center, and our commissioning program with Montclair State University, as well as through our Script Consultation services, we offer playwrights the opportunity to work continuously on a project to a state of production readiness. However, within our short-term programming, such as The Playwrights’ Pen or Play Gym, we apply the same methodology to identify both the vision of the play and the work required to meet that vision. Regardless of the timeframe or scope of our work together with playwrights, we place great value on the quality and impact of the process. Finding clarity in HOW to work, as well as having clarity on what the work ahead is, allows a playwright to work with greater continuity and intention, no matter the journey their play takes.
Our Programs
Foundations
Foundations: An Introduction to the Building Blocks of Play Structure, the Language of Dramaturgy, and the NJPL Approach to Play Development
This is a five-week, fifteen-hour workshop designed for playwrights who are new to the craft of playwriting, or for those who have had some formal training but wish to deepen their understanding of the language of dramaturgy. This workshop is also recommended for emerging dramaturgs, actors, and directors interested in sharpening their tools around the specific process of bringing new work to the stage.
The Foundations Workshop is offered virtually and is open to everyone, both NJ artists and artists residing outside of New Jersey.
PlayGym
PlayGym is a unique forum for playwrights to hear their work read by professional actors and to receive feedback, guided and facilitated by experienced dramaturgs, in an artist-driven, supportive environment. It is a hybrid between a playwriting class and a writers’ group, and intended to be used as a Gym in which writers return again and again to workshop and Play with their new scripts while developing and strengthening their understanding of craft and structure.
Playwrights who are brand new to the craft of playwriting are encouraged to take our Foundations Workshop prior to registering for PlayGym. Beyond that, PlayGym is recommended for playwrights of all career levels, is offered virtually, and is open to everyone, both NJ artists and artists residing outside of New Jersey.
The Playwrights’ Pen
The Playwrights’ Pen is a 12-week program for writers in the early stage of their career and craft who are looking for dramaturgical support on their plays, accountability, and an artistic community.
The Playwrights’ Pen follows the same model as our PlayGym Forums, but offers a longer-term process for more opportunity for development on the plays, more learning, and more artistic exchange.
The Playwrights’ Pen is offered virtually and is open to everyone, both NJ artists and artists residing outside of New Jersey.
Film Fundamentals
Film Fundamentals: A tactical approach to screenwriting, complete with script generation, text analysis, and production skills.
NJPL Collective Dramaturgs with expertise in writing and producing for the screen lead a small group of workshop members through five weeks of hands-on generative and educational screenwriting work to prepare the writer for filmmaking.
Film Fundamentals is offered virtually and is open to everyone, both NJ artists and artists residing outside of New Jersey.
The Storyteller Studio
The Storyteller Studio is a collaborative space for young playwrights and dramaturgs under the age of 30 to hone their craft through peer and professional support, and to develop the skills and working habits necessary for success as they transition into professional careers.
This program is intended for those who have recently graduated from university programs or those who have established their initial interests in these art forms through alternative avenues. Participants must consider New Jersey a literal or artistic home.
Script Consultations
These are one-on-one collaborations with a member of our dramaturgy collective. We offer script consultations for both stage plays and screenplays. Our script consultations offer writers the most concentrated and focused dramaturgical support on their plays.
This service is recommended for playwrights of all career levels. Script Consultations can be done in-person or virtually and are open to all playwrights, including NJ playwrights and playwrights residing outside of New Jersey.
Partnerships
The NJPL is committed to fostering the creation and production of outstanding new work in The Garden State and to strengthening the ongoing movement to establish New Jersey as a valued and vibrant hub of new play development. We are a proud member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and hold our fellow member theatres in high regard. We actively seek out partnerships and collaborations to provide play development support for organizations looking to bring new work to NJ stages.
Current Partnerships include:
The Garden State New Play Festival with Jersey City Theater Center
A partnership with The Montclair State University Department of Theatre & Dance to commission, develop, and produce New Jersey stories in New Jersey communities.
Mentorship
The NJPL offers ongoing mentor opportunities for aspiring and emerging dramaturgs. Our goal is to cultivate a collective of dramaturgs who share an understanding of our methodology while still nurturing and celebrating each artist’s individuality. While we have partnerships with theatre departments at a number of universities, it is one of our core beliefs that this is only one path toward the craft of dramaturgy, and we welcome artists who have traveled on alternative paths.
The Acting Company
The New Jersey Play Lab Acting Company is an ensemble of outstanding professional and non-professional NJ-based actors who are dedicated to and well-versed in the NJPL’s approach to new play development. They are an integral and valued component of the work of The NJPL, lending their talents and insights to the developmental readings that take place in all of our programming.
Membership in The NJPL Acting Company is by invitation only, but we often work with actors outside of our company for our developmental readings, and are always looking to be introduced to the work of more actors interested in new play development. If you are an actor who enjoys working on new plays, please submit your materials to us.
The New Jersey Play Lab 