NAC Announces Kesselring Fellowship Recipients

The National Arts Club announced the recipients of its Kesselring Fellowship (formerly the Kesselring Award) supporting the work of extraordinary playwrights who have yet to achieve national recognition. An industry panel of writers, literary managers, actors, producers and directors and critics evaluated twenty-five finalists. In a rare move based on extraordinary merit, the 2009 panel and the National Arts Club choose to give out two lead awards rather than one. These two playwrights, Rajiv Joseph (Bengal Tiger at the Baghad Zoo, upcoming at the Mark Taper Forum) and David Adjmi (Stunning, upcoming at Lincoln Center 3) were awarded Kesselring Fellowships. Playwrights Jenny Schwartz and Tarrel Alvin McCraney were also named as Kesselring Honorees.

Ari Edelson, Artistic Director of the Kesselring Panel, stated, "The National Arts Club is one of the premiere institutional supporters and champions of the arts in NY, and this year the panel was honored to have the Club's support in awarding not just one lead award but two. Over twenty of America's premiere theatres participated in this process and the final selection panel is the only review entity that is truly made up of peer artists, producers and critics. The four playwrights highlighted by this year's awards represent a true cross-section of the bold ways American theatre is moving forward, and we are positive we have chosen four writers we will be hearing from for decades to come."

"In these tough economic times, The National Arts Club was excited to make sure the esteemed Kesselring Felllowships took a lead in ensuring we treasure our best artists," said Aldon James, Jr., President of the National Arts Club. "By giving out two lead awards, we hope we can rebuke the trend of those who are pulling back their arts funding and programming and encourage bold voices like these to show us light in difficult times."

ABOUT THE KESSELRING FELLOWSHIP
For 26 years, New York's National Arts Club has annually highlighted the work of playwrights who show exceptional promise through the Kesselring Prize. Named in honor of beloved playwright and National Arts Club member Joseph Kesselring, author of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, the Kesselring Prize was first presented by The National Arts Club in 1980, funded by Mr. Kesselring's widow, the late Charlotte Kesselring, and had a mission to highlight the work of emerging playwrights who had not yet received prominent national attention. Previous winners have included Mark Schultz, David Auburn, Melissa James Gibson, Tony Kushner, Nicky Silver, Anna Deavere Smith, David Lindsay-Abaire, Jose Rivera, Heather McDonald, Philip Kan Gotanda, Kira Obolensky, Tracey Scott Wilson, and Marion McClinton. In 2005, The Kesselring Fund was enhanced with a significant contribution by the estate of club member Dr. Paul F. Cranefield Jr..

In 2007, The National Arts Club invited The Exchange and its development center, The Orchard Project, to collaborate in redefining the award to ensure its legacy and maximize the support it provided to NYC playwrights. The new Kesselring Fellowship is committed to generating new work, further ensuring that outstanding playwrights are provided with the tools and support to keep working in NY theatre and contribute to the cultural life of the city.

The Kesselring Fellow receives a large honorarium and additional development support for a project of their chosing, in addition to a committed residency and workshop at the Orchard Project in upstate NY. The tenure of the Fellow will be marked by a reading of a play of their choice at the start of the fellowship and a reading of the new play at the end of the year. The Fellow can also use the year and resources to work on another commission. The three Kesselring Honorees are each presented with an honorarium, a presented reading of a play of their choice, and the opportunity to develop work with The Exchange and the Orchard Project over the course of the following year. All four playwrights will also be included in other literary and artistic events at the National Arts Club over the course of the year. In total, the Kesselring Fellow receives $7500 of direct support and $14,000 of indirect support through development, and each Honoree receives $1500 in direct support and an additional $2000 in indirect support through development.

BIOS OF THE KESSELRING FELLOWS 2009:
DAVID ADJMI
David has received numerous honors, including McKnight and Jerome Fellowships, the Helen Merill Award, the Marian Seldes-Garson Kanin Award, a Royal Court International Residency, the Cherry Lane Mentor Project Fellowship, and others. His play The Evildoers its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in January of 2008. Stunning premiered at Woolly Mammoth in March, was subequently published in American Theatre, and will receive a production at Lincoln Center's LCT3 in the spring. Other plays include Marie Antoinette (Soho Rep W/D Lab, Sundance/Public Theatre Residency, Goodman Theatre New Stages Series), Caligula (Soho Rep Studio Series), Elective Affinities (RSC, in London & Stratford on Avon, both dir. by Dominic Cooke), Strange Attractors (Empty Space), Woody Allen's Fall Project and 3C. David has been awarded commissions from Lincoln Center, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, and the Royal Court, and he is developing a screenplay based on A.M. Homes's Music for Torching for director Steven Shainberg and Muse Films. David attended Sarah Lawrence College, the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, and Juilliard. He is a member of New Dramatists, the Dramatists Guild and Rising Phoenix Rep.

RAJIV JOSEPH
Rajiv Joseph's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo will be produced this May at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. His other productions include Huck & Holden (Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC), All This Intimacy and Animals Out of Paper (2nd Stage Theatre, NYC), and The Leopard and the Fox (Alter Ego, NYC). He is a 2008 recipient of the Vineyard Theatre's Paula Vogel Award. He was educated at Miami University and NYU and served in the Peace Corps for three years in Senegal.

BIOS OF THE KESSELRING HONOREES:
JENNY SHWARTZ
Jenny Schwartz's play God's Ear was premiered by New Georges; and was subsequently produced by the Vineyard Theatre; and has been published by Faber & Faber and Samuel French. God's Ear received a Susan Smith Blackburn Special Commendation. Jenny's play Cause for Alarm was part of the New York International Fringe Festival, and PSNBC's "Best of the Fringe Festival" at HERE. Jenny received an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University, and is a graduate of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Program.
She is currently working on Somewhere Fun, which is a commission from Soho Theatre, London & Soho Rep, NY. She is also under commission from South Coast Repertory and True Love Productions. She was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Soho Rep Dorothy Strelsin Playwriting Fellowship and has attended Sundance/Ucross Playwright's Retreat. Jenny is an Associate Artist with The Civilians, and a member of New Dramatists.

TARELL ALVIN MCCRANEY
Plays include The Brother/Sister Plays: The Brothers Size, 2007 The Public Theater New York The Young Vic, London UK, In the Red and Brown Water (2008 Alliance Theater Atlanta, GA) Other plays: The Breach (Southern Rep. Theater New Orleans 2007, Seattle Rep Theater 2008), Wig Out! (Vineyard Theatre, New York and the Royal Court, London 2008) Tarell graduated from the New World School of the Arts High School, 1999, matriculated into The Theater School at DePaul University in Chicago with a BFA in Acting 2003. Masters Degree from the Yale School of Drama in playwriting 2007. Honored with the 2007 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award from the Vineyard Theater and a 2007 Whiting Writing Award, Tarell has been named the International Writer in Residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company 2008-2010, the Hodder Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University and a seven-year residency at New Dramatist center in New York, NY. He received the Most Promising Playwright Award from the Evening Standard in London 2008.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CLUB:
Established in 1898, The National Arts Club was the first private club in Manhattan to include women in its membership. In addition to the Kesselring Prize, the National Arts Club confers Medals of Honor in all the arts categories, given to individuals and/or organizations for their lifetime contributions. The National Arts Club also awards scholarships to young artists, and has an outreach program for high schools. O. Aldon James, Jr., President of The National Arts Club, and Dianne Bernhard, the first Vice-President of The National Arts Club, are Co-Chairmen of the Club's Kesselring Committee. For information about The National Arts Club and its programs, call 212-475-3424.

ABOUT THE EXCHANGE/ORCHARD PROJECT:
The Exchange is a NYC theatre company committed to producing the classics of today and tomorrow and redefining the way new theatre is created. In 2007,
the board of the famed Jean Cocteau Rep relaunched the company with this new mission. The Exchange also runs the Orchard Project, based in the Catskill National Reserve, the nation's only development center focused on the work
of companies and innovative leading artists from the US and abroad, where pieces like this season's Off-Broadway hits The Shipment and Architecting and the upcoming Broadway production of 33 Variations were developed. For
more information, please visit www.exchangenyc.org or www.orchardproject.com