NPX Recommend-a-thon

NPX Recommend-a-thon

NPX Recommend-a-thon March Event: Tuesday, June 17, 2025 12:00-2:00pm EDT.

The LMDA invites you to join us for our upcoming New Play Exchange (NPX) Recommend-a-thon (RAT)! 

The NPX RAT is a coworking session for dramaturgs to convene via Zoom and uplift the work of playwrights we admire by individually writing recommendations. Now in its second year, RAT founders KJ Martinson and Dan Smith are handing the reins over to Megan Thornton. Like in previous events, we will convene as a group at the beginning and the end of our session to share our experiences. All are welcome! 

Sign up here!

To participate, you will need to have your own NPX subscription account, available for a nominal annual fee. A limited number of LMDA members can receive a coupon code for this; contact Lindsey Barr (admin@lmda.org) if you are a member interested in this option!

(This event is open to LMDA members and non-members, but we encourage you to join LMDA or renew your membership!)

The session will be loosely structured as follows:

  • Introductions: Megan welcomes all of the attendees to the event and then we continue the LMDA practice of welcoming everyone into the room with a quick and fun prompt. (20 minutes)
  • Opening statements about NPX by Gwydion Suilebhan (5-10 minutes)
  • First working session: We divide into selected groups. Each person will state their intention for the first working session within their group. The introductory group and the conversation group do what they do, and in the searchers and browsers and the recommenders group, it’s cameras off, mute buttons on, and everyone works independently for 35 minutes. Megan will time this so that all rooms are on the same clock and will broadcast a 5-minute warning to all rooms. When this happens, room facilitators can turn on their cameras and have a quick check-in with their participants and see how things went. 
  • Group check-in: All participants will return to the main room. Quick one word/one phrase response to how things went in the chat. Participants are given the chance to change rooms if they wish. (Very quick)
  • Second working session: In our new selected groups, each person briefly states a new intention. Then the intro and conversation group do their thing, while it’s cameras off, mute buttons on, and another 35 minute session in the searchers and browsers and the recommenders groups. Megan will time and broadcast a 5-minute warning. 
  • Reflections: We come back to the full group to share reflections and responses. 

Proposed Groups:

  • Introductory: This is a group for folks who want to learn more about the NPX, set up their reader profiles, and learn how to navigate the system. 
  • Searchers and Browsers: This is a group for folks who want to seek out new plays. For example, they might use this time to identify a set of scripts to read later, or to find a script to read during the working session. 
  • Recommenders: This group will have specific scripts in mind to recommend, or can browse to find scripts they may have already read, heard, or seen. They will spend the bulk of the time writing and posting recommendation(s). 
  • Conversation: This is a group for folks who are interested in discussion: perhaps about a play that they have recently read, or about an artist whose work they want to champion, or perhaps even about the process of review-writing itself.

Past NPX Recommend-a-thons:

Bios:

Megan Thornton is the Director of New Work at Ground Floor Theatre in Austin, Texas. She loves new plays. Megan is excited to facilitate the NPX recomenda-a-thon and connect with like minded dramaturgs!

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