1. Origins

2. Core programs

3. Recognition

4. Development

5. Past shows
    2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011 

6. Out of the Mount

7. Notes

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]

Core programs

Playwright workshop

NPP has a weekly program where any playwright can submit plays to be "workshopped." These plays are read out loud, discussed and critiqued for the playwright's benefit. The workshop functions as a classroom for the attending writers and actors to explore and understand the principles of writing a good story.

Themed short play festivals

Approximately every ten weeks, New Play Project produces a collection of short plays centered on a theme. A script selection committee chooses the best plays submitted for the production, directors and actors are found and the plays are rehearsed and performed. Playwrights are allowed to make improvements to their scripts during the rehearsal process.

Religious plays program

Twice a year, New Play Project accepts submissions of religious-themed plays, most of which are LDS. NPP feels it is very important there is a place for Mormon playwrights to write their own religious experiences using their own religious terminology.^[5]

Recognition

The goal of New Play Project is to not only create positive, uplifting media for local audiences, but to create great writers who can make a difference in the mass media.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} In 2007, two NPP writers' works were chosen for Specific Gravity Ensemble's Elevator Plays. SGE is a Louisville, KY-based theater company.^[6]

Development

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.

Past shows

2006

• Love Songs & Negotiations^[8]
• Palms^[9]
• In Progress

2007

• A New Leaf
• Beneath the Surface
• That They Might Have Joy
• Really Cool and Smart and Better Than You by Arisael Rivera
• All's Fair
• On the Road
• Roots
• Thorns & Thistles^[10]
• America^[11]

2008

• Eccentricities
• Lost and Found
• Swallow the Sun by Mahonri Stewart
• Long Ago and Far Away
• Bread of Affliction with BYU experimental theater club
• Fire & Rain
• God for President by Katherine Gee
• Uneaten Cantaloupe by Mahonri Stewart
• Games We Play

2009

• Do You Love Me?
• Little Happy Secrets by Melissa Leilani Larson
• Reaching

2010

• The Bent Sword Musical by Stephen Gashler

2011

• He & She Fighting by Eric Samuelson
• WWJD by Anna Lewis

Out of the Mount

In 2010, Davey Morrison edited a collection of NPP's work, Out of the Mount: 19 from New Play Project, published by Peculiar Pages. The book allowed NPP's work to travel outside of Utah and it "ably makes its claim as one of the most ambitious and vibrant going concerns in the world of LDS culture."^[12]

Notes

• Steve A. Wynn
• Steve Ayorinde
• Steve Azzi
• Steve Babaeko
• Steve Badger (poker)
• Steve Baer (political activist)
• Steve Baker (British politician)
• Steve baldwin
• Steve Ball (TV personality)
• Steve Banks
• Steve Banks (fighter)
• Steve Banks (photographer)
• Steve bannon
• Steve Barbé
• Steve Barclay (actor)
• Steve Barker (disambiguation)
• Steve Barnes (basketball)
• Steve Barnett (auditor)
• Steve Barnett (politician)
• Steve Barnett (South Dakota State Auditor)
• Steve Baron
• Steve Barr (educational innovator)
• Steve Basset (disambiguation)
• Steve Bate
• Steve Baxter