The New Black Playwright's Festival

It was the brainchild of Karen Horne, a playwright and director who was finding it difficult to present her works in Atlanta and the surrounding area. In its first outing, the Festival offered ten new plays, played to sold-out houses at Actor’s Express and received critical acclaim from newspapers and magazines. In its second year, the Festival took a major step forward by using an ensemble of twe

nty emerging actors. The actors trained for more than five weeks using the Meisner technique before rehearsing. The following years the Festival has continued to use professional actors and directors to interpret each playwright’s dramatic style. The following six years, the Festival presented more than twenty-seven playwrights and twenty-nine plays. Each year the New Black Playwright’s Festival progresses towards the goal of becoming a nationally renowned event in which new and emerging playwrights are invited to explore their work in a supportive and nurturing environment of creativity and discovery.