CASA VALENTINA, OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, THE SNOW GEESE, BRONX BOMBERS and More Among 2013-14 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award Winners

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2013 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $1,108,000, allow 39 productions extra time in the development and rehearsal of new plays with the entire creative team, helping to extend the life of the play after its first run.

Over the last seven years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded over six million dollars to 217 TCG Member Theatre productions across the U.S., enabling many plays to schedule subsequent productions following their world premieres. Thirteen have made it to Broadway, including: Curtains, 13, Next to Normal, 33 Variations, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Time Stands Still, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, A Free Man of Color, Good People, Chinglish, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Bronx Bombers and All the Way. Seven plays were nominated for Tony Awards, with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike winning the best play award in 2013. Seven plays were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with Next to Normal winning in 2010 and Water by the Spoonful in 2012.

"The Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards is the only funding program I know of that specifically supports a large cohort of world premieres each year, primarily through additional rehearsal time," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "The impact of this support is undeniable, with so many of the plays going on to numerous subsequent productions."

"When readying a new work for its premiere-especially a new musical-the most valuable resource a theatre can have is time," said Billy Russo, General Manager of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) in Cambridge, MA. "In an environment where we are all too often asked to do more with less, the two extra weeks of rehearsal provided by the Edgerton Foundation's grant to the A.R.T. gave our world premiere production of Witness Uganda room to breathe and space to soar."

"As a world premiere, The Gospel of Lovingkindness presents unique opportunities and challenges as the playwright, director, creative team, and cast create together what will ultimately be presented onstage," said Chay Yew, artistic director of Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, IL. "The extra rehearsal time is allowing us to give this important piece time and room to breathe and grow organically."

The 2013 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards were presented to:

Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

The Geller Girls
by Janece Shaffer

Alliance Theatre, Atlanta, GA

The Tall Girls
by Meg Miroshnik

American Blues Theater, Chicago, IL

American Myth
by Christina Gorman

American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA

Witness Uganda
by Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews

Arena Stage, Washington, DC

Camp David
by Lawrence Wright

Arena Stage, Washington, DC

Love in Afghanistan
by Charles Randolph-Wright

Atlantic Theater Company, New York, NY

Women or Nothing
by Ethan Coen

Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, TX

The Fortress of Solitude
book by Itamar Moses, music and lyrics by Michael Friedman, conceived by Daniel Aukin, based upon the novel by Jonathan Lethem

Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver, CO

The Legend of Georgia McBride
by Matthew Lopez

Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, CA

Death of the Author
by Steven Drukman

Geva Theatre Center, Rochester, NY

Informed Consent
by Deborah Zoe Laufer

Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL

Luna Gale
by Rebecca Gilman

La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, CA

The Who & The What
by Ayad Akhtar

Lincoln Center Theater, New York, NY

The City of Conversation
by Anthony Giardina

Magic Theatre, San Francisco, CA

Arlington
book and lyrics by Victor Lodato, music by Polly Penn

Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY

Casa Valentina
by Harvey Fierstein

Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY

Outside Mullingar
by John Patrick Shanley

Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY

The Snow Geese
by Sharr White

Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY

Tales from Red Vienna
by David Grimm

National Theatre, London, UK

The Light Princess
book and lyrics by Samuel Adamson, music and lyrics by Tori Amos, suggested by a story by George MacDonald

New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch, NJ

Butler
by Richard Strand

Northlight Theatre, Skokie, IL

Chapatti
by Christian O'Reilly

The Old Globe, San Diego, CA

Dog and Pony
book by Rick Elice, music and lyrics by Michael Patrick Walker

Olney Theatre Center, Olney, MD

Rancho Mirage
by Steven Dietz

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR

Family Album
book and lyrics by Stew, music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald

Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR

The Great Society
by Robert Schenkkan

Performance Network Theatre, Ann Arbor, MI

County Line
by David Wells

Portland Stage Company, Portland, ME

Veils
by Tom Coash

Primary Stages, New York, NY

Bronx Bombers
by Eric Simonson

Salt Lake Acting Company, Salt Lake City, UT

Grant & Twain
by Elizabeth Diggs

San Jose Repertory Theatre, San Jose, CA

Game On
by Dan Hoyle and Tony Taccone

Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle, WA

Bo-Nita
by Elizabeth Heffron

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

Leap Year
by William Coe Bigelow

South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, CA

Fast Company
by Carla Ching

South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, CA

Rest
by Samuel D. Hunter

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, IL

The Way West
by Mona Mansour

TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, CA

The Loudest Man on Earth
by Catherine Rush

Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, IL

The Gospel of Lovingkindness
by Marcus Gardley

Vineyard Theatre, New York, NY

The Landing
book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, music by John Kander, story by John Kander and Greg Pierce

For more information on the plays, please visit: http://www.tcg.org/tools/newplays/2013.cfm. TCG Member Theatres with a strong and consistent track record of producing new work are invited by the foundation to submit letters of inquiry to plays@edgertonfoundation.org. A panel of readers reviews the plays and one-time grants ranging from $5,000 to $75,000 are awarded.

The Edgerton Foundation New Plays Program, directed by Brad and Louise Edgerton, was piloted in 2006 with the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles by offering two musicals in development an extended rehearsal period for the entire creative team, including the playwrights. The Edgertons launched the program nationally in 2007 and have supported 217 plays to date at over 50 different Art Theatres across the country. The Edgerton Foundation received the 2011 TCG National Funder Award in June in Los Angeles.

For over 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 12 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. www.tcg.org.

Photo Credit: Henry Leutwyler