New Work

Celebrating the Creation of New Works.

We establish an environment that supports our region’s playwrights, builds bridges between our theater and national writers, and brings awareness of our art form and the work being created in the New England area with exciting initiatives: the Clauder Competition and the Little Festival of the Unexpected. Additionally, every year we have our From Away festival in collaboration with the International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa, where we bring international writers to Portland to share their work with our community.

Little Festival of the Unexpected

Little Festival of the Unexpected is an annual event dedicated to public readings of new works, furnishing a supportive environment for playwrights to develop their work, as well as a unique opportunity for audiences to catch a firsthand look at the creative process that brings scripts to stage.

Clauder Competition

For over four decades, the Clauder Competition has been New England’s most prestigious playwriting award, celebrating the distinctive voices of our region’s playwrights and bringing their work to the attention of the greater theatrical community through readings and productions at Portland Stage, which adjudicates the competition and provides a creative home for the winning playwright.

Bridging the Work of Local and International Artists

From Away is an annual festival of new work celebrating the voices of international writers in conjunction with the International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa. Each fall, From Away brings talented writers from around the world to Portland, where excerpts from their work are performed in translation by Portland Stage’s Affiliate Artists and local actors.