Joe's Pub Partners with Kimmel Center for 2015 Theater Residency Program

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced a new partnership with Philadelphia's renowned Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts for the 2015 Kimmel Center Theater Residency. Under the tutelage of Shanta Thake, Director of Joe's Pub, and Jay Wahl, the Kimmel Center's Artistic Director, the two week program will guide four world-class artists through the writing process and composition of four new works. The program will be held in the SEI Innovation Studio (1500 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA) from June 21 to July 2.

The Kimmel Center Theater Residency program, in its second year, serves as an incubator for creating innovative new works while pushing artists, both professionally and personally. This year's residency will culminate with free public readings with audience feedback and Q&A opportunities on July 1-2.

"We are excited to join forces with the Kimmel Center to support a group of artists known for innovative works that ride the line between live music and traditional theater. A natural extension of New York Voices, the Joe's Pub artist commissioning series, the Theater Residency program will provide the group with a peer environment, meant to elicit conversation crucial to developing each of the artists' specific works," said Thake, "This effort is directly in line with The Public Theater's long history of cultivating the country's most celebrated artists."

Collaborating on the artist selection process, Wahl and Thake are thrilled to bring together an extraordinary group of theater and music artists: theater artist Daniel Alexander Jones with composer Bobby Halvorson, singer-songwriter Jamie Leonhart, crooner Ethan Lipton & his Orchestra and Philadelphia's own Dito Van Reigersberg (a.k.a. Martha Graham Cracker). The partnership provides guidance and dramaturgy to the four selected artists in the creation of their works, with additional opportunity for further development on the Joe's Pub stage at the Public Theater.

"The Kimmel Center is delighted to partner with Joe's Pub on the second year of this theater residency in SEI Innovation Studio," said Kimmel Center President and CEO Anne Ewers. "This program continues to bring burgeoning performing artists to SEI Innovation Studio to collaborate on an exciting journey of new work. We encourage Philadelphians to engage with these talented theater artists in their public readings and to be a part of the creative process."

Last season, the inaugural Kimmel Center Theater Residency produced Deb Margolin's 8 Stops, which made its world premiere in Philadelphia before making its critically acclaimed New York City debut at the Cherry Lane Theater in April 2015. While the ultimate goal of the program is to produce completed works for the Kimmel Center's coming seasons, the immediate aim is self-exploration, meaningful peer review and the creation of new insights regarding musical narratives. The focus will be on text, voice, music and body, and how these elements are woven together into theatrical storytelling.

The program will be held in SEI Innovation Studio June 21-July 2 with FREE public readings July 1 and 2 (reservations required). Tickets can be secured by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, at the Kimmel Center box office at Broad & Spruce Streets (open daily 10:00AM to 6:00PM).

The Kimmel Center Theater Residency has been made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Don Haskins, LIDA, the Philadelphia Foundation and Linda & David Glickstein.