Supported by a grant from The Ruth Easton Fund of the Edelstein Family Foundation, The Ruth Easton Lab gives the nation's most exciting writers the time and tools to develop new work for the stage. The Center's Core Writers travel to Minneapolis from across the country to move their plays closer to production with the support of the finest dramaturgical minds in the nation, under the leadership of Associate Producer Hayley Finn.
The Core Writer Program
The Playwrights' Center invites committed professional playwrights to apply for the Core Writer Program. Created in recognition of the particular needs of emerging and established writers, the Core Writer Program is intended to significantly further a playwright's career. The Core Writer Program is available to writers both locally and nationally.
Learn more about the Core Writer Program and how to apply >
War is F**king Awesome
by Qui Nguyen
12/03/2012Director: Robert Ross Parker
Cast: Sun-Mee Chomet, Nathan Christopher, Shawn Hamilton, Aditi Kapil, Sara Richardson, Neal Skoy, and Bruce Young
Unity has carved out her perfect domestic life: husband, daughter, suspicious age-defying looks. But after disarming a squad of CIA agents at the grocery store, Unity is forced to tell her daughter the truth about her last and longest job—as Uncle Sam's very first army of one. It's a politically incorrect tour of America's military history, complete with robots, kung fu, and big f**king guns.
The Way West
by Mona Mansour
01/07/2013In a crumbling modern-day California town, Mom shares death-defying tales of pioneer crossings with her two squabbling daughters as she waits for her bankruptcy to come through. Stories are stretched, songs are broken into, and checks are forged as Mom and her grown girls scrape for survival.
Director: Hayley Finn
Cast: Nadia Bowers, Shanan Custer, Dan Hopman, Catherine Johnson Justice, Mo Perry, James Rodriguez, Eric Sharp and Sally Wingert
The Karpovsky Variations
by Adam Kraar
02/04/2013Cast: Mark Benninghofen, Michael Booth, Alex Galick, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Linda Kelsey, Eliza Shin and Joe Urla
Julia Karpovsky’s father is brilliant, talented—and lives half a world away. Growing up among her eccentric and disparate relatives, Julia navigates her way through a family with a missing piece, searching for the elusive notes of her father's clarinet. This musical story traces the Karpovskys' encounters at airport lounges over two decades as they improvise what it means to be a family.
PROFILES
by Joe Waechter
03/04/2013It's just another night of popcorn and Jeopardy, when Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins receive a phone call that changes their lives forever. Through turns both harrowing and humorous, PROFILES explores how an unthinkable act of violence echoes through the lives of the perpetrator's family, as they struggle to find relief and forgiveness in a rapidly disintegrating world.
Director: Hal Brooks
Cast: Terry Hempleman, Charity Jones, Hugh Kennedy, Ron Menzel, Mo Perry, John Skelley
The Dowager
by Andy Bragen
04/01/2013Tanya is trying to cat-sit, but the cat is nowhere to be found. She has ordered pizza, but the pizza boy won't arrive. She has all kinds of plans—but how do you pursue them when your life has become another person's subplot? Written for one actress and one large, mysterious trunk, The Dowager is a fractured journey through the mind and memory of a woman stung by betrayal.
Director: Erik Pearson
Dramaturg: Wendy Weckworth
Sound Designer: Montana Johnson
Cast: Liz Wisan
