Theater News

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz, Theresa Rebeck, and More to Attend Dramatists Guild of America Second National Conference

The Dramatists Guild of America will host American playwrights, composers, and performers at its second national conference in Chicago.

Chicago

Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lin-Manuel Miranda
(© David Gordon)

The Dramatists Guild of America has invited a star-studded lineup of artists to join the conversation at its second national conference, entitled Having Our Say: Our History, Our Future. The conference will be held from August 22-25 in Chicago, IL and will cover a broad spectrum of topics. Four tracks of programming will be running simultaneously: One will cover dramatists’ business and legal affairs; two will focus on playwriting and musical theater writing; and one will be devoted entirely to workshops and panels, featuring some of today’s most accomplished writers and performers.

Workshop and panel participants include Drama Desk Award-nominated writer Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In Transit); Drama Desk Award-winning playwright Gretchen Cryer (I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road); Pulitzer Prize nominee Rebecca Gilman (The Glory of Living); Drama Desk Award-winning composer Carol Hall (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas); Tony Award-nominated writer Winnie Holzman (Wicked); Tony Award-nominated playwright David Ives (Venus in Fur); Tony Award-nominated writer and actress Lisa Kron (Well); multiple Tony Award-winning producer Martha Lavey (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?); Tony Award-winning writer/composer Bobby Lopez (The Book of Mormon); Tony Award-winning writer Terrence McNally (Master Class); Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights); Tony Award-winning writer Marsha Norman (The Secret Garden); Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck (Dead Accounts); Tony Award-nominated composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked); playwright and theater historian Jeff Sweet (Class Dismissed); Tony Award-nominated writer John Weidman (Contact); Tony Award-winning director George C. Wolfe (Lucky Guy); and Tony Award-nominated actress Charlayne Woodard (Ain’t Misbehavin‘).

“It’s really clear now that we are all in this thing together, so it’s important that we know each other,” said playwright Marsha Norman. “That’s what the conference is for, in my book: meeting our allies.”

Playwright David Ives added in a statement, “It’s also important for playwrights to give back, and since Chicago is my hometown I feel as if I’m giving back something in return for all the years that great city formed me.”

For more information, visit the Dramatists Guild website here.