About Us:

We are now celebrating our twenty-seventh year. Founded in 1992 and managed by a volunteer board of directors, Ashland New Plays Festival is a nonprofit organization that encourages playwrights in the creation of new works through public readings. We also offer an educational forum to the community through discussions and workshops.

ANPF’s flagship festival is an international playwright competition that culminates in the staged readings of four new plays chosen by a cadre of volunteer readers from hundreds of submissions. This unique and much-loved event features professional actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the community. The dramatic readings and the talkbacks that follow are a rich theatrical experience for audiences, and the guest playwrights look to our sophisticated playgoers for responses to their works as they evolve from the page to the stage. In those magical exchanges of feedback, audience comments may help turn a very good play into a masterpiece and encourage playwrights to continue their efforts in the challenging endeavor of bringing new works to the public.

The soul of ANPF is our Reading Committee, which starts with organizational and training meetings in the fall and then reads blinded scripts throughout the winter and spring. Through a series of group discussions and at times employing a numerical scoring system, readers reduce the submissions from several hundred to around 35. At that point further discussions result in 10 to 14 semifinalists, and the artistic director leads the collaborative process of choosing the four winners.

The winning playwrights are announced in July, and in October they travel to beautiful Ashland, Oregon, for the festival, which draws playwrights and theatre lovers from far and wide for a week of readings, talkbacks, workshops, and playwright appreciation as we celebrate new works for the stage.

Mission:

Ashland New Plays Festival assists playwrights in the development of new works through public readings and offers an educational forum to the community through discussions and workshops.