PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER
MISSION, VISION, AND VALUES

OUR MISSION

Playwrights' Center sustains, develops, and advocates for playwrights and their work to realize their full artistic potential.

OUR VISION

Through the practice of inclusive theater-making, Playwrights’ Center fosters engagement towards an equitable, empathetic, and boundlessly imaginative world.

OUR VALUES

Centering Artists
We believe in the crucial role that playwrights and theatermakers play in witnessing the past, illuminating the present, and dreaming us forward. Our work is grounded in the needs, desires, and sustainability of the artists we support, prioritizing long-term artistic relationships.

Adaptability
We recognize that playwriting processes are as diverse as the human beings pursuing them. We evolve our perspectives, practices, resources, and partnerships in order to stay relevant and responsive to artists’ needs.

Equity
We continually interrogate our relationship to the word Equity. We support artists across all spectrums, with an emphasis on underrepresented and under-supported voices. We aim to uproot systemic inequities that inhibit creativity and focus on building new systems that center meaningful financial compensation. We understand this work to be intersectional and long-term, grounded in relationships and evolving anti-racist practices.

Inclusivity + Accessibility
We proactively engage and welcome people of all abilities, ages, cultures, ethnicities, genders, incomes, races, religions, and sexual orientations. We intentionally engage artists locally, nationally, and internationally, working across a multitude of processes and aesthetics.

Advocacy
We fight for a theater field in which playwrights and theatermakers not only survive but thrive. We are committed to modeling how institutions can authentically support the art of storytelling, and connect artists’ work to audiences around the globe.

WHAT WE DO

From our Center in Minneapolis/St. Paul, we serve 2,500+ playwrights and theatermakers across the United States and internationally, representing a vast array of identities, experience levels, aesthetics, and relationships to the professional theater field.

Our programs fall into four primary focus areas:

Individualized Artist Support 
Our fellowships and residency opportunities provide highly tailored artistic, financial, administrative, and networking support structures for playwrights and theatermakers who are pursuing their creative processes as careers. Some of our programs are specific to Minnesota residents, while others are open to artists nationally and internationally.

Community & Educational Resources
We gather an expansive network of playwrights and theatermakersfrom first-time writers and students to seasoned professionalswho continually exchange, learn from, and uplift each other’s work. Our robust slate of educational opportunities includes in-person workshops, online seminars, masterclasses, accredited university courses, and more. We curate the world’s largest online database of play submission opportunities; offer script feedback services; and provide other craft-, career-, and community-building initiatives.

New Play Development
We foster a supportive, artist-led laboratory space where playwrights and theatermakers can test new ideas, immerse themselves in the creative process, and share work in progress with audiences. Through customized workshops, dramaturgical support, and a growing coalition with producing theaters, we nurture scripts and collaborations into being.

Amplification & Connection
We are committed to supporting playwrights and theatermakers beyond their participation in Playwrights’ Center programs by promoting their work for production and nurturing an ecology of artist-to-artist and artist-to-audience relationships. Central to this work is the ongoing cultivation of partnerships with theaters and community organizations across the globe.