Matchbox is Crowded Fire Theater’s new play development program. Through commissions, workshops, a public reading series, the R&D Lab, and a Playwright-in-Residence, we invest in the development of new work and in the visionaries and world-builders that create them. 

The hallmark of Matchbox is individualization within a collaborative environment. We believe each play demands its own unique journey — both in terms of process and in terms of the people supporting the playwright on that journey. We aim to help identify and scaffold that process, and to create the most effective match between playwrights and the artists who can best support their work.

At Crowded Fire, we take a depth-over-breadth approach to the number of playwrights we serve at once time. Our experience has shown that a deeper understanding of a playwright’s work and style leads to a stronger sense of trust and safety — and allows for more risk and creative growth in their work over time.

Since Crowded Fire’s founding in 1997, Matchbox has evolved through four iterations, each shaped by its artistic leadership and a growing investment in the development process.

In the company’s early years, Matchbox was a bare-bones production: a Resident Artist took the lead as producer, the company provided a budget and marketing support, and the creative process lived entirely in the hands of the artists. In 2007, the Matchbox Reading Series was established to showcase new plays in development by writers of interest to the company. 

Under Artistic Director Marissa Wolf (2008–2014), the program was formally codified as the development arm of Crowded Fire, with an emphasis on commissions, workshops, and a public reading series. 

Under Artistic Director Mina Morita (2015–2023), Matchbox expanded further — adding the Playwright-in-Residence and the R&D Lab, and building out spaces for playwrights to develop not only their scripts but their voices as artists and changemakers. In 2023, Crowded Fire announced a transition to a shared leadership model. In 2026, Co-Executive Directors Riley Alyson (Production & Management), Nailah Harper-Malveaux (Artistic & Connectivity), and Julie McCormick (Finance & Fundraising) continue to build on that foundation: deepening relationships with playwrights and the wider Bay Area theater community, and developing new work that reflects the world we live in.

Commissions

Crowded Fire commissions playwrights to write new plays as opportunities arise. Commissioned playwrights receive financial support and vital resources through one-on-one meetings with artistic leadership to discuss ideas, edits, and rewrites. A commission may span one to three years, depending on the playwright’s needs, during which time Crowded Fire guarantees the new play a slot in the Matchbox Reading Series for further development.

Production Workshops

Production Workshops offer valuable resources for an in-house development process in support of specific mainstage productions. A playwright works with a director, actors, designers, and a dramaturg as needed in order to revise the script in preparation for production. These workshops grant crucial time and space for the playwright to work closely with a team, exploring aspects of the script that the playwright finds most critical prior to the official rehearsal period.

The Reading Series

The Matchbox Reading Series presents free public readings of plays-in-progress. Serving playwrights between the first and final draft, the series offers between twelve and twenty hours of rehearsal time with actors, a director, and a dramaturg. Within this supportive environment, a playwright gains the opportunity to hear the script come to life and revise toward a production draft. Each reading culminates in a public performance, which may feature a post-reading facilitated discussion, giving the playwright the chance to observe how the work comes across to an audience.

In addition to public readings, we may offer private or internal developmental readings for work if that is more supportive to the playwright’s process.

R&D Lab

The Resilience & Development Lab was created in response to playwrights whose communities are most vulnerable and whose voices are often underrepresented: women, trans, and genderfluid writers; BIPOC; and queer individuals at varying stages of their careers. The R&D Lab assembles cohorts of three to four writers over a two-year period, tasked with developing artistic pieces that interrogate and shape cultural conversation.

The Lab gathers its cohort regularly throughout the year and focus on the writing process with peer-to-peer feedback and conversation, as well as open discussion around the challenges artists face. Depending on each project’s development path, pieces may be workshopped with actors or resident artists, slotted for the Matchbox Reading Series, or ultimately presented on the mainstage. Now in its fourth cohort, the R&D Lab provides a supportive community that aims to strengthen not only the work, but also the individuals creating it.

Full cohort history lives on the R&D Lab page.

Playwright-in-Residence

Envisioned as a minimum three-year residency, the Playwright-in-Residence program provides an artistic and experimental home for a playwright already deeply aligned with Crowded Fire’s values and with a strong history of artistic collaboration with the company. The playwright-in-residence serves as an artistic advisor: participating in season selection, representing the company locally and nationally, and contributing to Crowded Fire’s mentorship and community outreach programs.

In addition to these official artistic collaborations, the playwright-in-residence receives an annual discretionary budget to fund development activities for scripts in process, access to Crowded Fire rehearsal space, and a community of collaborators through the Crowded Fire staff and broader Resident Artist Company.

In 2016, Crowded Fire announced the appointment of Christopher Chen as its first Playwright-in-Residence. Christopher Chen forged his first critically acclaimed production, The Hundred Flowers Project, with Crowded Fire, and has since garnered national awards for his work. He was followed by Star Finch, whose 2020-2026 residency (supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence Program, in partnership with Campo Santo and HowlRound Theatre Commons) supported the development and production of Shipping and Handling, and the development of Surface. The Playwright-in-Residence remains a central expression of what Matchbox is: a long-term investment in the artists at the heart of Crowded Fire’s work.

Partnerships

An underlying emphasis on community threads through Matchbox’s programming. Our readings and R&D Lab projects are frequently connected to organizations whose work resonates with the themes onstage. We also maintain ongoing collaborations with fellow Bay Area theater companies, including Golden Thread Productions, SFBATCO, and Playwrights Foundation, that deepen and extend the reach of plays in development.

In Education, Crowded Fire partners with Greenhouse, the Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University, building a bridge between the academic environment and professional experience. These partnerships offer students structured engagement with the process of developing new work as they move into the field.