The Deliverance Selected as Semi-Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference

The National Playwright’s Conference run by the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center has concluded their search for the 2022 conference and named Daysha Veronica’s new play, The Deliverance, as a semi-finalist. Out of 1,200+ applications, The Deliverance ranked among the top 15%.

Founded in 1964, the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center is the country’s premier program for new play development. Every summer, a select number of unproduced works are selected from a pool of 1,000+ submissions for a workshop on the O’Neill’s campus in beautiful Waterford, CT. Each play is matched with a team of industry-leading directors, dramaturgs, and actors for an intensive 30-hour rehearsal period, culminating in two public, script-in-hand staged readings. The O’Neill strives to foster an inclusive, collaborative environment in which artistic exploration and experimentation are encouraged at every step in the process.

Since 1964, NPC has developed more than 750 new plays, including early works of award-winning writers such as Lee Blessing, Adam Bock, Kia Corthron, Christopher Durang, John Guare, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, David Lindsay-Abaire, Martyna Majok. Dominique Morisseau, Lynn Nottage, Robert O’Hara, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Wendy Wasserstein, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, and Jeremy O. Harris.

The Deliverance is an expansion of the 10-min play, Mother Earth Day, that digs deeper into history of the Howard Family farmlands and the family’s struggle to have faith in their land, their history, and each other as climate change and increasing racial tension in the country start to wreck havoc over the spiritual connection they have with the land. So, when an investor makes an offer on their land, the family is forced to consider a tough decision.

It is available to read on New Play Exchange.