The Great Plains Theatre Commons was founded by Metropolitan Community College as the Great Plains Theatre Conference in 2006 under the vision and leadership of Dr. Jo Ann C. McDowell, President Emeriti of Metropolitan Community College. At the time, the concept of a national playwriting conference was uncharted territory for both the College and the community. Over the years, GPTConference found its roots both locally and nationally, and has helped develop hundreds of new American plays. In 2020, the Conference became an independent theatre nonprofit organization, the Great Plains Theatre...

Showcase for community art. And there's plenty in Manhattan! Live theatre, live music, galleries, children's activities, classes for all ages.

The Midwest Dramatists Center is a creative home, family and support for emerging playwrights to further the growth of their art and the impact of that art on the greater theater community. We accomplish this by providing the three key elements that every artists needs to succeed in bring his or her vision to the public: A home, a community, and guidance.

Since its inception, the William Inge Theatre Festival, has brought to Independence, Kansas, some of the world’s most prestigious playwrights. Arthur Miller, Wendy Wasserstein, August Wilson, Neil Simon, Paula Vogel, and Stephen Sondheim are some of those who have traveled to Independence to accept the Festival’s Distinguished Achievement in American Theatre Award. The Inge Festival honors also bestows the Otis Guernsey New Voices in Playwriting award, which recognizes a peer-nominated emerging playwright, the Margaret Goheen Award, for outstanding contributions to theater in Independence and...

Our programs support playwrights and theater artists at various stages in their careers, from beginning to emerging to established. Founded in 1971 by five writers seeking artistic and professional support, the Playwrights' Center today serves more playwrights in more ways than any other organization in the country. The Center has helped launch the careers of numerous nationally recognized artists, notably August Wilson, Lee Blessing, Suzan-Lori Parks, Jordan Harrison, Carlyle Brown, Craig Lucas, Jeffrey Hatcher, Melanie Marnich, and Kira Obolensky. Work developed through Center programs...

Our mission is to create, foster, and preserve affordable and sustainable space for artists and arts organizations. Artspace uses the tools of real estate development to construct or restore places where artists can affordably live and work, supports and contributes to an accelerating national movement of equitable, artist-led community development, and ensures that its spaces remain accessible to artists and their families in perpetuity.

BTC is a network of theatre practitioners who self-identify as members of the African Diaspora. We activate our collective resources to amplify, nurture and support the work of Black theaters and practitioners through advocacy, convening, networking and knowledge-sharing. Our objective is to create and implement actionable strategies that support Black theaters and Black practitioners. It’s crucial that we preserve, sustain and create places where the narrative of black people (people of African descent) can be reclaimed and reshaped. It’s also important to provide black practitioners,...

An advocate for the field of theatre and performance in higher education, ATHE serves as an intellectual and artistic center for producing new knowledge about theatre and performance-related disciplines, cultivating vital alliances with other scholarly and creative disciplines, linking with professional and community-based theatres, and promoting access and equity. Our mission is to support and advance the study and practice of theatre and performance in higher education.

ABOUT THE STUDIO The New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio, presented in collaboration with Nautilus Music-Theater, is designed to provide an opportunity for five writers and five composers to work with professional performers, exploring the possibilities and basic elements of music-theater. The studio focuses on the process of collaboration through a series of brief exploratory assignments for the writers and composers. The exercises are then sight-read by the performers in brief working sessions. The participants rotate partners, and the process is repeated four more times. Within the...

COCA’s mission is to enrich lives and build community through the arts. COCA uses the power of the arts and education to build a vibrant St. Louis that is creative, connected and inclusive. A national leader in innovative arts education, COCA provides meaningful arts experiences in our own studios, gallery and theatres, as well as in schools, community centers and corporate settings around St. Louis. The fourth largest multidisciplinary community arts center in the country, we annually serve more than 50,000 people of all ages, backgrounds, and ability levels—from enthusiastic amateurs to...