Jeremy B. Cohen took over the reins as Artistic Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference from the legendary Robert Egan, who led the conference through the past 23 years into its status as one of the leading new play development forums in the world.

Cohen will call upon his multitude of contacts in the field to help this year's eight chosen playwrights realize their vision through the intensive workshop process. It all leads up to the final weekend of staged readings (July 24th through August 6th). This year, The Thacher School will be hosting the workshops and stagings.

The playwrights work with dedicated teams of the dramaturges, actors, directors, producers and peers to bring out the best of their work in this highly coveted program. Cohen said hundreds of plays are read for every one selected.

Cohen is seeing striking artistic ideas coming out of the pandemic isolation, and is thrilled to help bring those visions come to life. Expecting to find a "lot of two-handers, figuring those are easier to get produced," instead he's noticing that "some of the best plays I'm reading right now are speaking to the idea of a quiet grief that many people haven't been able to articulate yet ... I'm sensing joy and freedom as well."

According to the OPC announcement, Cohen comes with decades of experiences as a nationally renowned director, playwright and leader in the field of theatre. He continues to serve as artistic director at Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, where he's led for 13 years. He will continue in that role until 2024. Previously he served as associate artistic director/director of new work at Hartford Stage (2003-2010), where he also directed several premieres. As founding artistic director of Naked Eye Theatre Company in Chicago, Cohen developed/directed more than 15 plays, including several premieres.

We talked about the writing life, the balance of isolation and collaboration that is key to art, and his plans for integrating the conference into a year-round institution, as well as integrating it into the Ojai community. We did not talk about hired clappers (clappeurs), the Battle of Marathon or recent UFO revelations.

Check out the OPC's website at OjaiPlays.org for current information and schedules of the stagings for this year's plays.