The Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop

Dedicated to supporting playwrights in the development of scripts with strong production and performance values. It is named for RLTP favorite and one of our region's most respected original playwrights Emanuel "Manny" Fried.

Each year up to ten participants are selected to meet twice a month to craft their newest play in an atmosphere of peer support and guidance. At the end of the development cycle, each work is given a public staged reading featuring Western New York's leading talent to test the audience-readiness of the piece.

The workshop is led by Workshop Director Kyle LoConti and Literary Director Jon Elston.

Road Less Traveled Productions (RLTP) has announced its list of participating playwrights in the 2010 Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop (NPW). The Western New Yorkers selected to participate in the NPW include two Artie Award winners, an Artie nominee, and the winner of the 2008 Yale Drama Prize.

Michael Fanelli 
Alex Livingston 
Annette Daniels-Taylor 
Phil Durgan 
Justin Karcher 
James Marzo 
Shawn McLaughlin 
Steve Roylance 
Vincent Scarsella 
Darryl Schneider 
Melody Von Smith 
Neil Wechsler 

Seven of those playwrights – Daniels-Taylor, Durgan, Fanelli, Livingston, Karcher, Schneider, and Von Smith – are alumni of previous NPWs, returning in 2010 with new scripts in development.

Darryl Schneider is one of RLTP’s Resident Playwrights and winner of the 2007 Artie Award for Best New Play, for his play WAR ROOM; he was also nominated for two additional Arties for his plays TWO TO THE HEAD and TWICE AROUND. Annette Daniels-Taylor won the Best New Play Artie in 2009 for her play A LITTLE BIT OF PARADISE; Melody Von Smith’s debut play, BONEGRINDERS, was nominated for the Best New Play Artie in 2008. All of the above were developed in RLTP’s NPW.

Neil Wechsler was the winner of the Yale Drama Prize in 2008 for his play GRENADINE. GRENADINE was hand-selected for this honor by master playwright Edward Albee, and received its world premiere production at the Road Less Traveled Theater in the Fall of 2009.

Michael Fanelli and Alex Livingston have numerous local productions among them to their credit. Writer Shawn McLaughlin is new to the theatre, but arrives with an extensive background in television and film writing.

RLTP’s Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop supports the development of original dramatic works by local playwrights. Under the supervision of Workshop Director Kyle LoConti and Literary Manager/Resident Playwright Jon Elston, playwrights provide peer support to one another during the composition and revision of their original plays over a nine month period. RLTP then presents readings of these new plays to the public, directed by and featuring some of WNY’s finest theatrical talent. Audience members who attend these readings are invited to enjoy a glimpse of tomorrow’s world premiere productions and to offer their constructive feedback—an integral component of each playwright’s process.

Free public readings of the plays developed in the 2010 NPW will begin in September of 2010.

Applications for the 2011 New Play Workshop will be accepted beginning December 1st, 2010. Only electronic submissions (via e-mail) will be accepted. For more information, please visit www.roadlesstraveledproductions.org, or contact Jon Elston at newplayworkshop@roadlesstraveledproductions.org

PAST PARTICIPANTS

• Eric Appleton (06/07)
• Dana Block (06/07, 2009)
• Frank Canino (05/06,06/07)
• Annette Daniels-Taylor (05/06,06/07)
• Cindy Darling (05/06, 2009)
• Philip Durgan (2009)
• Michael Fanelli (05/06,2008)
• Hunter Fernandez (2009)
• Tom Paul Fox (2008)
• Billy Horn (2008)
• Donna Hoke-Kahwaty (2008, 2009)
• Justin Karcher (2009)
• Aaron Krygier (2008)
• Christopher LaBanca (2008)
• Alex Livingston (2008, 2009)
• Melissa Mawhinney (2009)
• Andrew Novell (04/05)
• Donald Richardson Jr. (2008)
• Gary Earl Ross (2008)
• Darryl Schneider (04/05,05/06)
• Ibn Shabazz (2008)
• Lisa Vitrano (04/05)
• Melody Von Smith (06/07,2008)
• Wendy Weinstein (2009)