Koenigsberg, Kern, Rivers & More Named 2010 Playwrights in Residence for Urban Arts

The Life Stories Youth Ensemble, the collaborative education project between The New Group and Urban Arts Partnership, has selected five emerging playwrights to serve as writers for their inaugural Playwrights in Residence Program. Jon Kern, Josh Koenigsberg, Natalia Naman, Dominique Morisseau and Harrison Rivers will partner with high school student actors to create five original one-acts to be performed at The New Group's AcornTheater on April 25-26th, 2010.

Over the course of three intense sessions, the playwrights will work with their student casts to create original plays. Students will develop distinct characters based on people in their lives, create profiles and monologues inspired by their character's desires, and then present to their partnering writers to synthesize. The plays will premiere on April 25th, 2010 at 6PM at The Acorn Theater at Theater Row, with a Q&A led by the writers and actors. A student matinee will follow on Monday, April 26th at 10AM.

The Life Stories Youth Ensemble was founded in 2006 by Urban Arts Partnership and The New Group, to provide advanced theater students with a laboratory to develop original performances. This year-long program offers both advanced theatre and playwriting training to underserved high school students from across the city. For more information on the Life Stories Youth Ensemble, visit: http://www.urbanarts.org/current-programs/view/15 Playwrights

Playwrights
Jon Kern has worked with 2g, bluebox productions, Despina & Co., The Magnet Theater, and the Nature Theater of Oklahoma, and his writing has been presented or workshopped at Ensemble Studio Theater, New Georges, The Flea Theater, The Brick Theater, and Het Rozentheater in Amsterdam. He is a member of EST/Youngblood, The Old Vic New Voices Network, and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Columbia University's School of the Arts. He was awarded a 2010-2011 Van Lier Fellowship in Playwriting from New Dramatists.

Josh Koenigsberg's work has been produced/developed at The Public Theater, The Atlantic Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, 2econd Stage, Ars Nova, Naked Angels, The Old Vic, Center Stage, Collective:Unconscious and the 2009 Broadway Pink Campaign at the American Airlines Theater. He is a founding ensemble member of At Play, the resident company for the 24-Hour Plays Off-Broadway, as well as a member of the Old Vic New Voices Network and The Dramatist's Guild. His most recent play, Al's Business Cards had an extended run at Theatre Row, was a New York Times "Critic's Pick", and named one of the 10 Best Off-Off Broadway Plays of 2009 by Nytheatre.com. It's published in Plays and Playwrights 2010 edited by Martin Denton. He is currently one of the writers-in-residence in The Living Newspaper, as well as one of the staff writers for "Naked Radio" a new radio show produced by Naked Angels Theater Company. M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University and a B.A. in Philosophy and the Arts from Bard College.

Dominique Morisseau is a playwright, actress, and arts advocate for social justice. Her list of plays includes Black at Michigan (Cherry Lane Studio), Retrospect For Life (Hip Hop Theatre Festival), and Follow Me To Nellie's (the Standard). She is the recipient of two NAACP Image Awards, a Jane Chambers Award Honor, a Wendy Wasserstein nomination, and a scholarship to the Centrum Writer's Conference (Port Washington), and the Black Women Playwrights Conference (Chicago).

Natalia Naman was born in New York, raised largely in Georgia, and currently resides in Alphabet City. Her plays include THE OLD SHIP OF ZION (The Lark, Princeton University), DROUGHT (NYU Tisch), and CROSSING OVER (EST, Manhattan Theatre Source). Her writing has been presented at NYU's Festival of New Works and the Lark Play Development Center's Playwrights' Week. She is a River Crossing Rivers EST Playwright this year. Natalia is a second year MFA candidate in Dramatic Writing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Harrison Rivers is a 2010-11 Van Lier Fellow with New Dramatists and a 2009-10 New York Theatre Workshop Emerging Artist of Color Fellow. His play WHEN LAST WE FLEW was recently selected for development as part of the 2010 Sundance Theater Lab at Governors Island. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of at play, an Exchange affiliated ensemble and the official off-Broadway company of the 24 Hour Plays-www.atplayproductions.com. He is also a member of the Old Vic New Voices Network, the Lincoln Center Director's Lab and The Movement Theater Company. Harrison holds degrees in American Studies and Dance & Drama from Kenyon College and an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.

About Urban Arts Partnership
Urban Arts Partnership's mission is to strengthen public schools by providing arts-based solutions to urban educational issues. Urban Arts Partnership accomplishes its mission through a variety of interdisciplinary arts programs that include in-school classroom integration, after-school programs, master classes, professional development, summer programs, arts festivals, and special projects. They currently work in 60 schools, serving 10, 000 students annually.

About The New Group
The New Group is an artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. While constantly evolving, The New Group maintains an ensemble approach to all of their work and an articulated style of emotional immediacy in their acting and productions. In this way, The New Group seeks a theater that is adventurous, stimulating and most importantly "now" - a true forum for the present culture.