Ojai Playwrights Conference

The Ojai Playwrights Conference is a new play development program based in Ojai, California. The mission of the organization is to develop unproduced plays of artistic excellence that focus on the compelling social, political and cultural issues of our era from diverse playwrights both emerging and established, and to nurture a new generation of playwrights and theatre artists.

Each summer playwrights, directors, dramaturges, and other theatre professionals gather in Ojai for a two-week conference culminating in a New Works Festival, in which new plays are presented in staged readings and audiences are invited to join in post-play discussions. The readings, performed by professional actors, generally occur at Zalk Theater on the campus of Ojai's Besant Hill School. In addition to the new play workshops, the Festival also features special performance events and presentations of original works by conference interns and youth workshop program participants.

Founded in 1998, the not-for-profit arts organization has been led by Artistic Director/Producer, Robert Egan, since 2001. Under his leadership, the Ojai Playwrights Conference has grown steadily over the years in the number of artists served, the diversity of its artists and leadership, and in acclaim as one of the nation's leaders in new play development. In 2019, the Ojai Playwrights Conference was awarded the prestigious Gordon Davidson Award for distinguished contribution to the Los Angeles theatrical community by the LA Drama Critics Circle. OPC remains committed to developing socially, politically and culturally challenging works that reflects the great ethnic, cultural and ideological diversity of the country.

Many of the plays developed at the Ojai Playwrights Conference have numerous productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and at regional theatres across the country. Some have been nominated for and won prestigious awards. Both "Fun Home" by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, and Jon Robin Baitz's "Other Desert Cities" were Pulitzer Finalists; "Fun Home" won the Tony Award for Best Musical; and Danai Gurira's "Eclipsed" and Stephen Adly Guirgis' "The Motherf**ker with the Hat" were each nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.

External links[]

• Ojai Playwrights Conference
• City of Ojai
• Ojai Festivals
• Theater 150
• Besant Hill School