The Virginia Playwrights Initiative (VPI) is a part of the Hamner Theater’s continuing mission to foster new works for the stage, specifically those by Virginia playwrights. VPI provides a venue for the playwright to workshop, rewrite and rehearse a new script with a company of experienced actors, a director and a dramaturg.

The playwright participates in a process of readings, rehearsal and discussions with cast, director and dramaturg, culminating in a public staged reading.

Following the reading, there will be a discussion open to all. This discussion is an important part of the process, providing an opportunity for the playwright to understand the impact the play has had on the audience.

We are looking for promising but unfinished scripts by playwrights who are eager to revise and finish their scripts with the helpful input of directors and actors.

Questions, contact us.

VPI is made possible in part by grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the BAMA Fund.

VPI Readings in May, June & July, 2011

Unless otherwise noted, we will gather for a snack and a chat at 6:30 p.m. and start the reading at 7:00 p.m. Please come listen to the play and be part of the conversation afterwards.

Admission to all readings is Free.

Friday, May 15: Actor read of The Viennese Patient, by Mark Edmundson

Friday, May 29: Actor read of Doug Grissom’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck

Sunday, May 31 at 11am: Reading of Peter Coy’s Gabriel

Friday, June 5 – Reading of Bill Rough’s play Blackout

Friday, June 12 – Actor read of Blackout, by Bill Rough

Saturday, June 20 – Staged reading of Nobody’s Wife, by Cindy Dlugolecki

Sunday, June 21 at 1:00p.m. – Staged reading of The Grove at Illium, by Jane Ann Crum

Saturday, July 25 – Staged reading of Slow Instructions, by Roy Robbins

Sunday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. – Staged reading of All is Always Now, by Robert Wray