Playwrights Ink is a Madison, WI non-profit association of theater artists dedicated to the development of playwrights and their work. Our members include area playwrights, actors, directors, and theater enthusiasts. Through informal readings at our monthly meetings we help writers develop their scripts. Actors read a writer’s script, which is followed by a discussion during which members explain what they thought was effective and offer constructive suggestions. Anyone can attend a meeting and offer feedback. While we are not a production company, we have on occasion presented public...

American Players Theatre’s mission is to perform timeless, challenging, poetic texts, with Shakespeare at the center, to the broadest audience possible. We strive to share our understanding that great poetry and stories, both from our past and from the emerging voices of our future, can illuminate the ever-expanding experience of what it is to be human.

“MKE MaKEs” is a series to develop and present world premiere music theatre works. The program will encompass a wide range of new musical works from never-before-produced readings to fully produced world premieres. “Made in Milwaukee” is a proud moniker we will apply to all works under the MKE Makes umbrella,” said Michael Unger, Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director. “Skylight feels that it is critical to the survival of the American music theatre to foster new works and new writers and encourage voices we have not yet heard to take center stage.”

Memoriam Development is a collective of creators gathered together in order to make great original content for stage, screen, and pod. Founded in 2016, Memoriam hit the ground running with its first project, Surial. A podcast parody of the hit podcast Serial.

The Old Lady project is an initiative to encourage the development of plays and musicals that feature significant roles for female identifying characters over 50. Plays will be submitted to a national panel of directors and producers and two staged readings will occur in Evanston per year. A directory of works will be featured on the Old Lady Project webpage to facilitate connections between theatre companies, directors and producers.

The American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University supports the development of new musicals. AMTP’s goal is to provide artists and their works with the proper time, space, and resources to realize their intended vision and shepherd them through the next step of their developmental journey. Additionally, inviting artists and pieces to campus allows Northwestern students to engage with new work in a rewarding and illuminating way through performance opportunities, assistantships, and observation. AMTP strives toward becoming a fully inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist...

The Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project is a free, weeklong songwriting workshop for young, aspiring songwriters between the ages of 18 and 30. Led by award-winning master teachers, this program is for songwriters of all genres: music theatre, contemporary pop, R&B, country, rock, Latin, jazz, and many more!

Chicago Writers Bloc is a play development group that focuses on presenting new plays developed in monthly sessions and regular new play festivals. Led by Joanne Koch, a widely produced playwright and noted Emeritus Director of the National Louis University Master’s in Written Communication Program, the not-for-profit Writers’ Bloc has brought over 250 new plays and musicals to Chicago area audiences, supported in part by grants and by festival attendees and contributors. Many of these plays have gone on to win local, national, and international prizes with productions locally and around...

ALLIANCE FOR JEWISH THEATRE is 501(c)3 non-profit organization made up of theatre-artists, theatres, and other people connected to theatre to promote the creation, presentation, and preservation of both traditional and non-traditional theatrical endeavors by, for, and about the Jewish experience.

2nd Annual Developmental Workshop Lifeline Theatre announces our 2nd annual developmental workshop! We continue to be invested in bringing new and diverse voices to our stage. As a new works company specializing in literary adaptation, we believe writers who adapt literature to the stage need dramatists to bounce ideas off of, actors to read it out loud, and experienced theatre makers to engage in discussion with the work. Also, writers need TIME to digest and incorporate the results of those experiences into their play. Lifeline Theatre has been developing new adaptations through an ensemble...

Interrobang Theatre Project, in association with The Theatre School at DePaul University, is proud to announce The Playwriting Initiative. It is our belief that it falls on every theater in our community to nurture new work. Our commitment to playwrights will include providing a supportive environment with necessary resources such as actors, directors, and space.

Our versatile ensemble creates visceral experiences that challenge perspectives through passionate storytelling. Shattered Globe is inspired by the diversity of our city and is committed to making the theater accessible to all audiences. Through initiatives like our Protégé Program, we create a space which allows emerging artists to grow and share the ensemble experience with us. Shattered Globe Theatre brings its audiences dynamic re-imaginings of classic works, as well as premiere productions that celebrate new voices and innovative viewpoints.