Theater fans, get out your calendars and start marking down the dates you can make it over to the O'Neill. The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's renowned National Playwrights Conference offers public performances from July 6 to 30 and, as always, features an intriguingly diverse lineup.

These eight works were chosen from 1,450 submissions — a record-breaking pool, according to conference Artistic Director Wendy C. Goldberg. In addition to that, Stephen Karam, who is a 2016 Tony winner for "The Humans" and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for "The Humans" and "Sons of the Prophet," will be the conference' writer-in-residence.

Goldberg said that this is "a period of remarkable success for the National Playwrights Conference. O'Neill-developed plays will have premieres this season in London, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York."

This year's plays are:

"Running on Fire" by Aurin Squire

8:15 p.m. July 6 and 7

A young college student is out for a jog when he is implicated in a crime spree. His attempts to seek justice set off a chain reaction.

"Teenage Dick" by Mike Lew

7:15 p.m. July 8 and 9

"Teenage Dick" reimagines the most famous disabled character of all time, Richard III, as a 16-year-old outsider in the deepest winter of his discontent: his junior year at Roseland High. Picked on because of his cerebral palsy (as well as his Shakespearean way of speaking), Richard is determined to have his revenge.

"The Burdens" by Matt Schatz

8:15 p.m. July 13 and 14

Told almost entirely via text messages, "The Burdens" is a dark family comedy in which adult siblings are drawn together into an elaborate plot to relieve their mother's burden — and to relieve their own.

"Smalltown Values" by Kathryn Walat

7:15 p.m. July 15 and 16

John and Jane were high school sweethearts. Jane and Maryjane are best friends. Emma is back in the town where she grew up, where nothing ever changes — until it does.

"Against the Hillside" by Sylvia Khoury

8:15 p.m. July 20 and 21

With the buzz of American drones above the Pakistani countryside, Sayid and Reem worry about their son. In New Mexico, Matt pilots one of these aircraft and gets drawn into the lives he observes.

"Laura and the Sea" by Kate Tarker

7:15 p.m. July 22 and 3:15 p.m. July 23

It's company outing day, and Laura, one of the top travel agents of her generation, is having the best/worst day of her life. So much so that she decides to end it all.

"Girls in Cars Underwater" by Tegan McLeod

8:15 p.m. July 27 and 28

When newcomer Dusty is hired to do punishing work at one of the toughest bars in the city, she forms an unexpected bond with the hard-edged women who work there.

"Up the Hill" by Keith Huff

7:15 p.m. July 29 and 30

Jack and Jill, two 20-something Congressional interns, face an uphill struggle to maintain their youthful idealism in Washington, D.C.

National Playwrights Conference performances, July 6-30, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, 305 Great Neck Road, Waterford; $30; (860) 443-1238, theoneill.org.