Announcing the New Resident Writers

New Dramatists Mourns the Loss of Joseph A. Maffia

Joe and his artwork: Joe Maffia, in front of his personal "tag" on a graffiti tag art wall, at 118 THE LANE pizza parlor, London, July 2025.

On the morning of Friday, August 15, 2025 New Dramatists' board member Joseph A. (Joe) Maffia passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly. In the six short years that he's served on our board, Joe has become an anchor for the organization and a dear, treasured friend. All of us at New Dramatists extend our deepest condolences to Joe's wife, MJ; his daughters Jessie and Michelle; his sister and brother Roma and Maurice; his grandson Liam; and to the entirety of Joe's expansive circle of family and friends.

Welcome Zoë Rhulen, the 2025-26 Princess Grace Fellow!

Congratulations to Zoë Rhulen who received the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting for her play, Dirt. Zoë will be the Princess Grace Fellow in residence with New Dramatists for the 2025-26 season.

New Dramatists administers the application process on behalf of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA. Applications are accepted each year in early March.

After Seven Salon: Celebrating Outgoing Writers

On June 24, 2025, New Dramatists honored and celebrated playwrights, Sam Chanse, Kate Cortesi, Aurin Squire, Lloyd Suh, Mfoniso Udofia, Ken Urban, and Brian Watkins, who have completed nine years in residence at New Dramatists. Their customary seven-year residencies were extended by two years due to the pandemic.

Each writer read excerpts of their own work that spanned their time in residence, with Mfoniso Udofia represented by fellow writers Nkenna Akunna, Kate Cortesi, and Monet Hurst-Mendoza. Tributes and remarks were shared by alumni Barbara Hammond, Chisa Hutchinson, and Matthew Freeman; current residents Phllip Christian Smith and Deborah Yarchun; staff leaders Emily Morse and Christie Brown, and board president Abbie Van Nostrand.

Article in Forbes

The New Dramatists Spring Luncheon was covered in Forbes Magazine, in an article entitled, "How New Dramatists Shapes Generations of Playwrights from Page to Stage"

Boy, do we feel seen!

Spring Luncheon Tribute Honoring Tina Landau and Idina Menzel

Thanks to all of you who joined us at our Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute on Tuesday, May 27 at the New York Marriott Marquis to honor this pair of multi-hyphenate generative artists: Tina Landau, award-winning playwright, lyricist, and director (Redwood, Floyd Collins, SpongeBob SquarePants), and Tony Award-winning performer, Idina Menzel (Redwood, Wicked, Rent).

Houghton Hall Arts Community: Our Home Away from Home

New Dramatists, a playwright development organization that supports playwrights through seven-year residencies, is itself “in residence” during the current season: It is with gratitude that we announce the totality of our work – administrative and artistic - is taking place at Houghton Hall Arts Community, 22 East 30th Street, while we assess and conduct needed repairs to our building on 44th Street.  

New Dramatists' Statement of Equity, Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion

The principles of equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion (EDAI) are embedded in the founding of our organization. To read our EDAI mission and values statement, and to learn about the process for articulating this community statement and putting it into practice, please click here 

Thanks to Our Summer 2025 Educational Intern!

Our heartfelt thanks go out to Erica Pajonas for her support of New Dramatists this summer, as our Bernard B. Jacobs Educational Intern!

Erica Pajonas is a performer, writer, props designer, and future arts administrator, currently pursuing a M.A. in Performing Arts Administration at NYU, Class of 2026. She holds a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Theater Studies from Quinnipiac University. Erica's creative work bridges the fields of psychology and theater, with a particular focus on how these disciplines intersect to promote mental health awareness and empathy.

At Quinnipiac, she wrote The Mind on Stage, a series of six short plays exploring various mental health issues. With the help of her friend and dramaturg Savannah Lawton, the project aimed to invoke empathy in audiences and new understandings of topics they might have been unfamiliar with. Erica's previous theater experience includes prop design, assistant stage management, and acting with Legacy Theatre of CT. She has also worked as an assistant stage manager with the Yale School of Music’s opera program for some productions. She is very excited and grateful to be interning at New Dramatists this Summer. 

The Bernard B. Jacobs Academic Internship Program was named in memory of the late President of the Shubert Organization, who discovered and mentored many talented theatre people during his lifetime. This program at New Dramatists offers a unique opportunity for early-career theatre artists and managers to learn about artist-led development and the operations of a non-profit arts service organization in New York City. Interns receive academic credit for their work with us through this program.