The play is not necessarily the thing in this PRELUDE-commissioned experiment/project, aimed at capturing the here-and-now awareness and reason of the contemporary playwright. Starting a couple months ago, these five playwrights began exchanging emails on an extended chain with no structure and no rules; simply an open, frank conversation re: (no subject). The threads that have emerged are as wildly varied as the styles and perspectives of each of the five. PRELUDE curator Caleb Hammons brings these playwrights together to share a portion of their ongoing exchange and to answer this question: “What is ‘forward’?”

Moderator: Caleb Hammons

Participants: Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Sibyl Kempson, Max Posner, and Anne Washburn