WHAT WE DO

As the name notes, OCPA is an alliance of playwrights with Orange County in common who create bold new plays according to their individual and diverse life experiences and viewpoints. 

We present curated plays to the public in our Discoveries and OCPA Presents events held at local theatres, and in occasional co-productions with local ensembles.  Hundreds of Southern California actors have joined us "at the table" at our monthly meetings and in these public performances.

In 2024, OCPA introduced EMBARK - Orange County's first playwrights cohort. The four full-length scripts written in that program were presented in a hugely successful weekend festival at Santa Ana's Grand Central Art Center with the support of The Wayward Artist. The 2025 edition of EMBARK will start this spring at Laguna Beach's No Square Theatre.

OCPA values:

• Diversity - plays that share a story and perspective born of a particular life experience  

• Risk - taking risks with form and content in your playwriting

• Voice - your play has a point of view about life or the world, expressed in a style that is distinctly yours

• Specificity - storytelling that does not feel generic, stereotypical or imitative

• Imagination - playwriting in which the flights of the mind complement the passion of the heart

Interested in joining us? Submit a script to us. We'll read it and consider you for membership.