South Carolina New Play Festival – What Makes a Good Play?

The Community Foundation of Greenville is sponsoring the South Carolina New Play Festival in Greenville on August 12 – 14, 2022. The festival will include a panel discussion about “What Makes a Good Play and How Does the Developmental Process Work” that will take place on August 12. SC Humanities supported this program with a Fast Track Literary Grant.

The innaugural South Carolina New Play Festival will celebrate engaging and dynamic new plays from across the United States. The festival will feature three readings of new plays, 1 reading of a new musical, classes, and a cabaret special event.

Festival Artistic Director West Hyler said that the South Carolina New Play Festival is an important new cultural offering in the state. “During the last two years and in the wake of COVID, many existing play festivals and play development organizations ceased operations…The result is a dearth of development and presentation opportunities for new theatrical works and a lack of panels to discuss the relevance and structure of new play development.”

The “What Makes a Good Play” panel discussion will take place on Friday, August 12 at 12:00 p.m. at CentreStage Theatre (501 River St, Greenville, SC 29601). The speakers include a playwright (Samantha Miller), the artistic director of the festival (West Hyler), and a dramaturg (Kimberly Colburn). They will discuss how plays are developed and how the quality of theatrical work is determined so that the audience is better equipped to respond to plays that they see. The program is free and open to the public. Seats can be reserved here: https://www.southcarolinanewplayfestival.org/classes-4zZp8/p/what-makes-a-good-play.

The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 20-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.