New Jersey Play Lab is hosting two Virtual Open House sessions for prospective 2026-2027 Storyteller Studio Cohort participants! If you are an aspiring playwright or dramaturg, this is for you.
The Storyteller Studio is a Community for the Development of Young Playwrights and Dramaturgs. It is a virtual, cost-free, ten-month Cohort program offered through the New Jersey Play Lab. It is a collaborative, artist-driven space where NJ-based emerging playwrights and dramaturgs under 30 can hone their craft through peer and professional support.
Session One takes place Tuesday, April 28th at 7:30pm on Zoom. Session Two takes place Wednesday, May 13th at 7:30pm on Zoom.
The Studio Staff will introduce themselves, walk through the program experience, and answer any questions about applying or participating. Each session will be the same, so please plan to attend one session.
Click here to register for a session.
This program is intended for those who have graduated from university programs or those who have established their artistic practice through alternative avenues. It is open to artists who consider New Jersey a literal or artistic home.
The Storyteller Studio places the focus on artistic process, not product. Although a shared goal is for each Cohort member to move forward on their own project, the primary focus of the program is to foster a community of artists who collectively grow an expanded awareness of their own artistic approach. The group will also explore, in community, various possibilities and career trajectories within the fields of playwriting and dramaturgy.
Why the Studio?
Playwriting and Dramaturgy could be considered the backbone of theatre. Yet, there are often gaps in learned experience in these disciplines. Student playwrights in a university setting often leave without the chance to fully explore their work off the page, and student dramaturgs often fall through the cracks of curriculum and production opportunities. Often, the expectations placed upon students do not align with what will be expected of them in a professional setting, leaving them unprepared and ill-equipped as they embark on their emerging careers.
Young artists who have foregone higher education face numerous barriers to artistic development, and artists at an entry-level point in their careers often do not have a consistent support network of peers who share their goals and skill sets. There are few spaces for young playwrights and dramaturgs to create that aren’t classes, internships, fellowships, or jobs, and many of these existing programs for emerging artists have education requirements or present financial barriers. This reality can leave young artists isolated and with a fractured, unproductive path in which to continue to grow and learn.
The Storyteller Studio was conceived with all of these challenges in mind as a uniquely and radically accessible, virtual, no-cost opportunity, structured to champion self-determination by each artist while offering community support, targeted mentorship and professional development.
What does the Studio offer?
Community support
* Each artist will benefit from hearing diverse perspectives and feedback on their work.
* Although cohort members may come from varying backgrounds and educational and artistic paths, the program is designed so that members of the cohort can find support and camaraderie as they navigate the challenges and obstacles of pursuing their art at their specific point of life.
Targeted mentorship
Each Cohort member engages directly in an ongoing one-on-one process with a Lead Mentor throughout their time in the program. This mentorship focuses on the artist’s chosen project, as well as the overall development and advancement of their artistry and professionalism.
Professional development
* The Studio offers an introduction to the unique approach to playmaking of the New Jersey Play Lab, insights into various paths open to young artists when considering the next steps in their careers, and assistance and guidance with taking these next steps post-Studio experience.
* A number of Guest Artists from the greater NJ theatre community are invited to meet with the cohort at various points throughout the year. These Guest Artists are carefully selected based upon the interests and needs of the members of the Cohort. The goals are to expose the Cohort members to the wide range of possibilities of career trajectories available to them, introduce them to players in the NJ theatre scene, and to establish some initial professional connections.
How does it work?
The Storyteller Studio operates on a yearly basis with an open application and selection process occurring in the summer, and the work of the Cohort taking place over the course of eight months from mid-fall to late spring. Each Cohort is led by a dramaturgically experienced Lead Mentor.
Artists selected to participate in a Cohort begin their Storyteller Studio experience by identifying specific goals for an artistic project to work on throughout the course of the program. For example, playwrights’ projects may take the form of a reading of a play or play excerpt, or the discussion of a treatment. A dramaturgical project may take the form of a collaboration with a playwright on a work in process, the designing and presentation of a research packet, or exploring an audience engagement concept. This identification process, like every aspect of The Storyteller Studio, is artist-driven. The Lead Mentor is there to ask questions, but ultimately to support the artist in articulating their goals.
The Cohort meets virtually several times per month over the course of the program. The majority of these meetings are dedicated to artists’ presentations of their work, where the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process is utilized to gain feedback from the group as a whole. Cohort members have pre- and post presentation check-ins with the Lead Mentor to talk more in-depth about the work, digest feedback, and discuss their desired steps forward.
Periodically, the meetings are reserved for visiting professional Guest Artists. These individuals are brought in to offer their perspective and experience around topics which are relevant and resonant to the needs of the specific Cohort, as well as to serve as prospective professional connections.
The final component of the program is professional support. At the close of the program, the Lead Mentor meets individually with each artist to discuss what the artist has gained over the course of the Cohort experience, and what opportunities would most benefit the artist moving forward. Whether through referrals, digital promotion, or collaborating on other in-house opportunities, the staff of The New Jersey Play Lab aims to invest in the next generation of young literary artists and assist them in taking these necessary next steps.
Who is this for?
The Storyteller Studio is a no-cost opportunity for young writers and dramaturgs early on in their artistic careers who want to dive headfirst into their craft, creating alongside a community of their peers, while being guided by experienced mentors. This program was conceived as a transitional program for young artists who want to position themselves to be successful in a professional and collaborative setting.
The criteria for selection of a Cohort is based primarily on a commitment to one’s art form, regardless of the formality of experience or scope of a resume. That said, playwrights should have some writing experience and be able to share some examples of their work. Cohort playwrights will engage with dramaturgical concepts to deepen their craft and receive actionable feedback on their writing, but the Studio is not a place to come to learn how to write, or a writer’s group. However, the Studio may be the first place Cohort dramaturgs explore the art of dramaturgy in a formal way.
All applicants should articulate a willingness and desire for participation in a dramaturgically-focused creative process, and demonstrate the ability to create the time and space to meet the demands of the program. The Studio experience is about process, not product. Although Cohort artists will move ahead in their chosen projects, the primary goal of the program is discovering and sharing a process of learning and developing work through collaboration with other artists.
