As the New Writing Program of the Shekou Theater Festival enters its third year, we’ve identified a critical issue—When the goal of nurturing playwrights becomes tied to staging a full production, it often leads to rushed, results-driven compromises. This drowns out the deeper questions about society and existence that a playwright might explore through slow, quiet reflection. The Shekou Theater Festival’s mission is “incubation”—cultivating a new generation of playwrights and their writing.

Requiring them to deliver a “complete performance” at this stage places an undue burden on them, effectively “pulling up seedlings to help them grow” (forcing premature outcomes). Playwrights shouldn’t expend energy negotiating a director’s interpretation, nor should their capacity for inquiry and imagination be constrained by production logistics. During incubation, a playwright’s responsibility is to stand firmly with their text, channeling their ideas through actors to the audience.

Thus, in this third year, we’ve decided to remove the “director”—a variable that traditionally demands performance accountability—to refocus incubation on the text itself. We’re transforming past “staged reading” into script readings + public forums. By simplifying the framework, we hope to empower emerging writers to engage.