Selection Process

WordBRIDGE nominations are solicited from around the country. We encourage writers to send scripts that best capture their voices and visions, but that are in need of revision and the intensive work provided during the Lab.  Nominated scripts are then distributed to a panel of theatre professionals who read and recommend projects based on originality, vision and voice.  Once the pool of nominations has been narrowed down to selected finalists, we talk with each of the playwrights and determine if they are a good match for WordBRIDGE. By the time a script and playwright has been selected for WordBRIDGE, the script has been read at least three times and we have gotten to know the playwright and their plan for their time at the Lab.

Playwright-centric Process

Each process should be as unique as the script it hopes to serve.  Each playwright is matched with a production team consisting of a director, dramaturg, actors, and other related resource artists. Working intimately with the playwright, each production team explores different perspectives and experiments with new ideas for the playwright. The workshop includes daily rehearsals, readings, improvisations, script analyses and if applicable, sessions with related dance, music and scenic design artists. The playwright rewrites and reworks the script following these daily sessions.

Readings

Each play is read for the assembled company at the beginning of the process. Reactions may be solicited from the company in a variety of ways, from direct questioning to more tactile or poetic approaches, with the goal of inspiring the playwright toward the work ahead. At the end of the workshop period, each playwright is presented with the opportunity to have another reading for, and gather reactions from, the assembled WordBRIDGE company. This is not a "final" reading, nor are rehearsals working toward this reading as a production. The second reading is a check-in where the play is in process and all feedback given leads the playwright into the potential rewrites or towards production after the Lab.

After the Lab

We know that the work continues after the Lab is over. We remain committed to promoting these works, when ready, with our professional theatre partners and through our online database of scripts.