Chicago Dramatists is theatre R&D at its best, nurturing playwrights and their work and helping to spread that work to stages around the country and across the globe. At the heart of our development strategy lies a commitment to long-term associations with our writers... associations we develop and maintain by means of two tried-and-true programs—our Network Playwright program and our Resident Playwright program.

The Network Playwright program is available to playwrights of all levels of experience, both inside and outside the Chicagoland area, and a few of our Network playwrights are granted the honor of "Senior Network" status—which comes with special perks. The Resident Playwright program consists of our core group of playwrights—some new, others experienced, but all based in the Chicagoland area and each one demonstrating the potential to make significant contributions to the American stage.

And to help make sure that the American stage has a future, we partner with the City of Chicago in a School Program to bring the joy of dramatic writing to high-school students across the city and make that program available to middle schools and high schools throughout the Chicagoland area.

And even if you're not one of our Network members or Resident playwrights, we've still got you covered... with our quarterly 10-Minute Workshop readings that are available to all comers.

R&D for the American stage. It's what we do.