Registration for this year’s program has concluded. If you are interested in learning about future playwriting opportunities, please fill out our interest form.
UIS Performing Arts Center invites all curious local residents 18 and older with an interest in writing plays and other theatrical works to join the Central Illinois Playwrights Collaborative. The collaborative will convene twice monthly from November 2025 through April 2026. The twice-monthly gatherings of the collaborative will be a place where playwriting prompts can inspire spontaneous writing, guest playwrights can provide tips and insights, and works-in-progress can be shared for nurturing responses from other writers as well as from actors and directors.
The intention is that the Central Illinois Playwrights Collaborative will generate content that can be presented in, at least, two separate public events at the UIS Performing Arts Center’s Studio Theatre during the 2026-2027 season. These events may take the form of monologue or ten-minute play festivals, staged readings, or more fully produced pieces of longer lengths. The collaborative’s participants, guided by local playwright Tim Crawford and UIS Performing Arts Center’s Carly Shank, will craft these events as the year progresses.
The group will gather on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, November through April, at 6:00 PM. The first two gatherings of the Central Illinois Playwrights Collaborative will be held in-person at a Springfield location. Everyone joining the collaborative should attend at least one of the first two in-person gatherings, as follows:
Wednesday, November 5, 6:00-7:30 PM
Wednesday, November 19, 6:00-7:30 PM
More information about the location of the first two meetings will be provided to those who register. After the first two meetings, the group will offer hybrid or Zoom meetings for the convenience of the participants.
There is no cost to participate in the playwriting collaborative, but all participants must register. Registration will be first-come, first-registered and will be limited in order to maintain an effective size group. Please register below.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Carly Shank at (217) 206-8286, carmi1@uis.edu if you have any questions or have any difficulty filling out the form.
