Origins
New Play Project was founded April 2006 by Brigham Young University students James Goldberg, Arisael Rivera, Julie Saunders and Jennefer Franklin as an attempt to produce new play scripts they developed. Bianca Dillard almost immediately joined the group and developed the continuing workshop program.
In August 2006, sponsored by the BYU Experimental Theatre Group, it held its first production, a 10-minute play festival titled Love Songs and Negotiations. In October 2006 it held another play festival titled Palms, which featured plays revolving around religious themes. At the beginning of December 2006, it held its last play festival of the year titled In Progress.
In 2007, New Play Project officially separated itself from BYU and was incorporated with the state of Utah as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The next seven shows were performed in Provo City Library's Bullock Room. In December 2007, New Play Project moved to its current home at 105 N. 100 East: Provo Theatre Company's building. [4]
Development
Part of New Play Project's goal is education. They work to develop new writers, actors, and directors, and hone their skills. They do this both through play writing workshops and through their short play productions. [7]
- Writing
Writing is the most important aspect of New Play Project. The heart of NPP is new work. NPP welcomes submissions from anyone for their themed productions. If submitted early before deadlines, the directors are willing to give feedback, and even have a workshop program for playwrights trying to develop both their short and full-length scripts.
- Acting
Because NPP generally produces short plays, actors sometimes only need to spend 2–5 hours per week in rehearsal and have a much lower memorization burden than in most plays. No previous acting experience is required, and directors work with actors to develop good acting skills.
- Directing
As with acting, the ten-minute play format provides opportunities for many beginning and experienced directors without the time-consumption of managing and blocking a full-length production. Previous directing or acting experience is required for directors, and NPP generally gives preference to those who have worked on previous NPP production (in any capacity).
- Dramaturgy
NPP also includes dramaturgs in its productions. In NPP, dramaturgs help find additional information and images that help the director and actors better understand the script in terms of its larger context. They also create written and visual aids to help audience members connect the script to issues in their own lives and the world around them. Dramaturgs also help during the script development process to give articulate feedback on scripts to improve them. They are heavily utilized in the play writing workshop program.
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