NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT

For more than two decades, the Ojai Playwrights Conference has brought together established and emerging playwrights to develop compelling new plays for the American theatre. 2024 will mark OPC’s 27th Annual Summer Conference and New Works Festival. This will include a week of play development workshops followed by our public-facing New Works Festival, a long weekend of community events and staged readings of some of the most exciting new work in the country, all in the beautiful surroundings of Ojai! The New Works Festival will be August 1 - 4. Festival passes and tickets go on sale this spring - check back here for more information.

The OPC Intern Program (for college students) and the OPC Youth Workshop Program (for high school students) provide opportunities for young artists to engage with and be mentored by playwrights and artistic staff in the creation of their own original works as part of the Summer Conference and New Works Festival.

The Conference

Selected playwrights, directors and dramaturges, plus OPC artistic staff and interns, come together in an intimate setting to support the writers in the development of their plays. During this first week, plays are read out loud by the participants and moderated dramaturgy begins. This affords all participants awareness of all projects and the ambitions of each writer and their core creative team. During this first week, the artists also enjoy the hospitality of local hosts who provide housing and meals for the OPC community.

New Works Festival

The actors, stage managers and production staff join the playwrights and their core artistic teams for a week of rehearsals and continued development. This process culminates in the public workshops of their new works during the New Works Festival. In addition to new play workshops, the Festival also features the popular Intersection Series, young artist performance events and local receptions with the artists