The Guild offers varied outreach events to members across the country. We also take very seriously our commitment to writers, no matter their age or level of experience. Some of our programs include the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, DG Academy seminars, Director/Dramatist Exchanges, Songwriter/Bookwriter Exchanges, Friday Night Footlights, and town hall member meetings across the country.
The Fellows Program
The Dramatists Guild Fellows program is designed for emerging theater writers who have completed a graduate program and are no more than five years past that program, or have comparable experience in organized writers’ workshops or other pertinent experience. The nine-month program includes group sessions with theater professionals, and, if possible, one-on-one mentoring, and opportunities to become interns or observers with dramatists involved in professional productions.
DG Academy
A series of seminars and conversations that plays on the idea of ‘continuing education’ and addresses issues of craft and the business of being a playwright. The popular DuoLogue and Contracts 101 seminars fall under the DG Academy umbrella. Previous participants include Christopher Durang, David Lindsay-Abaire, Stephen Flaherty, Mark Bly, Carol Hall and Jeanine Tesori.
For information on upcoming DG Academy seminars, Guild members are encouraged to search the online bulletin board for postings.
Awards
The Dramatists Guild presents four awards annually to theatrical writers across the country: the Hull-Warriner Award, the Frederick Loewe Award, the Flora Roberts Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Friday Night Footlights
The Guild sponsors evenings of readings of members' new work on Friday nights from September through May in the Frederick Loewe Room in the heart of Times Square. To schedule your FNF reading in New York City, contact our Office Manager, Patrick Shearer, either by phone (212-398-9366) or by email. Additional Friday Night Footlights reading series' are held monthly in San Francisco and Los Angeles. For more info on those, contact the local Regional Reps in those areas.
Director/Dramatist Exchange
Several times each year the Dramatists Guild hosts a Director/Dramatists Exchange, to which 15 emerging writers are invited to meet 15 emerging directors. Over the years, these Exchanges have resulted in countless lasting professional relationships crucial to a successful career in the theatre.
Songwriter/Bookwriter Exchange
In 2009, the Guild began offering the Songwriter/Bookwriter Exchange in which songwriters (and songwriting teams) are invited to share one song and bookwriters are invited to describe a musical work-in-progress for which they are seeking a composer collaborator. The Songwriter/Bookwriter Exchange is offered twice a year in New York and once per year in Los Angeles.