Midwest Dramatists Conference this weekend

2024 Midwest Dramatists Conference

September 26-28, 2024 • Hilton Garden Inn, Olathe, KS

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise indicated.

Thursday, September 26

• 7:00pm: Opening Reception
• 8:00pm: Meet the adjudicators Edward Einhorn, Lonita Cook, David Hanson, and Lindsay Adams Kennedy with special guests Ernie Nolan, Artistic Director of the Unicorn Theatre, and Khalia Davis, Artistic Director of the Coterie Theatre.

Friday, September 27

• 9:00am
  The Last Meal by Elena Naskova
  Dead Caterpillars by Layli Rohani
• 9:30am
  Who’s a Snowbird by Kathleen Maule Holen
  Gun Free by Jessie Salsbury
• 10:00am
  Big Footprints by Kyle Walker
  The Wonder Drug by Daniel Born
• 10:45am
  Scribe Stadium by Danielle Dresden
  Most Outstanding Minority Girl by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos
  
• 11:15am
  Mother’s Day by Betsy Anne Huggins
  The Tenting by Tom Moran
• 11:45am
  Juliet’s Post Credit Scene by Greg Lam
• Objectively by Allan Maule
• 1:15pm
  Doors Are Closing by Donald Cooper
  Something Blue by Sache Satta
• 1:45pm
  Love Letters by Amber Dickinson
  White Cotton, Black Light by Samuel Heyman
• 2:15pm
  Ring Around the Rosary by Ward Kay
  Spring Break by Kevin King
• 3:00pm
  Loneliest Road in America by Grace Laughton
  A Cupboard Full of Coffee Cups by Bridget Grace Sheaff
• 3:30pm
  The Last Man on Earth by Arthur M. Jolly
  The Illiad: Book 7 by Rand Higbee
• 4:00pm
  With Apologies to White Elephants by Everett Robert
  My Piano Doesn't Like Me by Larry Rinkel
• 4:30pm
  Seven Polaroids of Men's Bottoms by John Adams
  The Drums by Katherine Vondy

• 7:00pm Horse Power: Tom Bass’ American Story: Join us for a new play by MDC playwright and board member Michelle Tyrene Johnson at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. (attendance optional).

Saturday, September 28

• 8:30am Breakout Session 1 (not open to the public)
  
• 10:00am Breakout Session 2 (not open to the public)
  

• 11:30am
  Unmuted by Clark DesSoye
  Esto Tambien Pasara by Jessica Mayer
• 12:00pm
  Killing Maggie by Laura Mazzuca Toops
  The Waiting Room by Alli Hartley-Kong
• 12:30pm
  Not About Pretty by Wendy Vogel
  Mnemorian by Annie Considine
• 2:00pm
  The Coat with the Silver Lining by Alison Reeger Cook
  I Will Tell the Bees by Audrey Webb
• 2:30pm
  Surprise Visit by James Mainard O'Connell
  Geminds by Andra Laine Hunter
• 3:00pm
  The Three O'Clock by Peggy Powell
  Two Sisters and a Red Lollipop by Judah Skoff
• 3:45pm
  Intake by Celeste Michael
  Put Me In Coach by Frank Shima
• 4:15pm
  The Hands That Rock the Candy Bowl by Teddy Durgin
  Imperfect Storms by Scott C. Sickles
• 4:45pm
  Code by Steven Ty
  Logs by Haz Cady
• 5:15pm
  Prior Engagement by Wyn Alyse Thomas
  How About Them Dodgers by Philip Middleton Williams

• 7:00pm MDC Gala Dinner (not open to the public)

MDC Conference Deadline July 15

The submission window for the MDC Conference will close on July 15, 2004. Please submit your ten minute play so you can attend the conference by this date.

Submission details here: https://www.midwestdramatists.org/2024/05/seeking-submissions-for-2024-midwest.html

Seeking Submissions for the 2024 Midwest Dramatists Conference

WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE MIDWEST DRAMATISTS CONFERENCE. 

 

The Midwest Dramatists Center (MDC) is pleased to announce the return of the Midwest Dramatists Conference, to take place September 26-28, 2024. MDC is a Kansas City, Missouri-based organization and we invite play submissions from playwrights across the country.

 

Industry professionals Edward Einhorn, Artistic Director of Untitled Theater Company Number 61, and Kansas City film and theatre critic Lonita Cook will serve as adjudicators of the play readings held during the conference and conduct workshops for the playwrights whose plays have been selected for the conference. Additional adjudicators will be announced on our website this summer.

 

We are currently seeking 10-minute plays with no more than three characters. Each playwright will receive a 25-minute slot that includes their play reading and adjudicator comments. The play must be unpublished, but previous productions or readings are acceptable.

 

The submission window will remain open until we have received 125 applications, and selected playwrights will be notified by July 30, 2024. There is no submission fee. One submission per playwright. The conference will provide actors and directors from Kansas City’s vibrant professional theatre pool.

 

Once you are accepted, conference registration is $275. Playwrights whose plays are chosen are required to attend in order to have their plays read at the conference. In addition to the play reading with adjudicator feedback, conference registration includes the opening night reception, breakfast and afternoon snacks Friday and Saturday, the Gala dinner, and breakout sessions. More details about the conference will be announced at www.midwestdramatists.org.

 

 The conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Olathe, Kansas, 12080 S Strang Line Road. The phone number is 913-815-2345. There is a special hotel discount for artists visiting from out of town. Please let the hotel know you are attending the conference when you call for reservations. The local airport is Kansas City International (MCI), in Kansas City, Missouri.

Kevin King's "Boxed" by Whim Productions

 

MDC playwright Kevin King's new play "Boxed" will be produced by Whim Productions October 12-22. 

Nick and Freddy’s date was going so well - until suddenly, it wasn’t. The fallout forever changes their relationships with each other and their best friends. "Boxed" is a look at the complexities of boundaries and consent, intent vs. impact, and the boxes we put each other and ourselves into.

Directed by Darrington Clark. Starring Jacque Davidson, Luke Knopke, Terrace Wyatt, Jr., and Diana Watts

more at Whim Productions

Midwest Dramatists Conference Oct 5-7, 2023

The Midwest Dramatists Center is excited to announce the return of their annual Midwest Dramatists Conference. The event will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Olathe, Kansas, on October 5-7, 2023. The conference is only open to MDC playwrights and the alumni of previous conferences. 

The Midwest Dramatists Conference hosts a series of play readings by playwrights from all over the country with feedback from expert adjudicators. This year's adjudicators are actor and playwright Sean Grennan and playwright, dramaturg, educator, and theatre artist Lindsay Adams Kennedy.

Sean Grennan
Sean was an actor for many years, Sean began writing for the theatre as co-librettist for the musical Phantom of the Country Opera, which had its world premiere at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. He went on to debut five shows at the American Heartland Theatre –his comedies Beer for Breakfast and As Long As We Both Shall Live and his musicals (librettist/lyricist) Married Alive!, A Dog’s Life, and Another Night Before Christmas. In addition, Sean has had four world premieres at Peninsula Players Theatre — Making God Laugh, The Tin Woman, Now and Then and A Rock Sails By, which was part of the statewide festival, “World Premiere Wisconsin”. His play LUCK! won an honorable mention from the National Writers Association’s Playwrighting Festival and was produced by the Epic Theatre Company. Combined, his plays and musicals have gone on to hundreds of productions around the world, including China, England, Australia, Germany, Serbia, Russia, and others. Sean has been the Playwright in Residence at Centre Stage’s New Play Festival, the Playwright in Residence at Lamb Arts Regional Theatre and twice served as an adjudicator for the Midwest Dramatists Conference. Longtime Chicago and New York City residents, Sean and his wife Kathy recently moved to Pennsylvania when Kathy completed a 13-year run in Broadway’s Wicked. In PA, they share office space with their excellent dog, Hank. His musical Phantom of the Country Opera has been published by MTI, and his other plays/musicals have been published by Playscripts, Inc. Sean is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG/AFTRA and The Dramatists Guild.

Lindsay Adams Kennedy
Lindsay is a playwright, dramaturg, educator, and theatre artist. She has been honored nationally for her work as a playwright—her plays, River Like Sin and Rattler were semi-finalists for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and her in-development musical Like Cinders (written with Rebecca Nisco) was a semi-finalist with the O’Neill National Music Theater Conference. Her Own Devices received the Judith Barlow Prize and a reading at WP Theatre in NY, followed by a production with KC Public Theatre. Her work has been produced and developed across the US with companies like Theatre Alliance (DC), Actors Theatre of Indiana (IN), Keegan Theatre (DC), and Midwest Dramatists Center (MO). Her work writing theatre for young audiences has also been commissioned by companies like CLIMB Theatre (MN) and Springville Center for the Arts (NY). She has dramaturged and directed for companies like the Unicorn Theatre, Confluence Theatre, and St. Louis Shakespeare in Kansas City, as well as worked independently with a number of playwrights as a new work dramaturg and director. She has been a script reader for theatre companies like Unicorn Theatre and Kitchen Dog Theatre and been a reviewer for the Dramatist Guild Foundation Playwriting Fellowship and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Playwriting Awards. Her creative works have been published in Their Own Devices: A Collection of Kansas City Playwrights (forthcoming), Stage It, Stream It: Plays for Virtual Theatre, Tahoma Literary Review, CutBank Literary Journal, Reunion: The Dallas Review, OxMag, some scripts, and Nexus Journal. She is a proud member of the Dramatists’ Guild and has an MFA in Playwriting from the Catholic University of America. She is currently a PhD Candidate at Saint Louis University and an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Benedictine University.