New Jimmy Buffett Musical, Cheryl Strayed Play & More Among Edgerton Foundation New Play Award Recipients
By: BWW News Desk Dec. 13, 2016
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, has announced the recipients of the third round of the 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $669,000, allow 16 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 ten years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded $9,885,900 to 335 TCG Member Theatre productions, enabling many plays to schedule subsequent productions following their world premieres. Twenty-four 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, Casa Valentina, Outside Mullingar, All the Way, Eclipsed, Bright Star, Hamilton, The Columnist, In Transit, Doll's House Part 2, Dear Evan Hansen, Indecent, and Oslo. Eleven plays were nominated for Tony Awards, with All the Way, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and Hamilton winning the best play or musical awards. Nine plays were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with wins for Hamilton (2016), The Flick (2014), Water by the Spoonful (2012) and Next to Normal (2010).
"It is incredible seeing the direct impact that the Edgerton award has on the productions it supports," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "Giving playwrights, directors, and creative team members the freedom of time so they can delve into the details inspires productions that live past their world premieres, and contribute to a new canon of American plays."
"The Edgerton grant will allow us to add one week of rehearsal for A Doll's House, Part 2." said Marc Masterson, artistic director of South Coast Repertory. "Hnath plans to continue refining the play between now and its nearly simultaneous openings at SCR and on Broadway; the extra week will give him more elbow room to do so while he's in residence with us. Of equal importance, director Shelley Butler and her cast will have more time to explore the tricky nature of Hnath's deceptively familiar, deceptively naturalistic language and theatrical style and home in on the right way to deliver the play."
"The 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award grant will allow the artists involved with the world premiere production of Her Portmanteau a much needed additional week of rehearsal," said James C. Nicola, artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop. "Throughout this week, playwright Mfoniso Udofia and director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar will work closely with the three actors to explore the family dynamics embedded within the piece, grounding them in reality and strengthening the intimate universe of the play."
The third round of the 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards were presented to:
by NSangou Njikam
at Alley Theatre
by Jiréh Breon Holder
at Alliance Theatre
by Rajiv Joseph
at Center Theatre Group
by Douglas Carter Beane & Lewis Flinn
at Dallas Theater Center
by Alena Smith
at Geffen Playhouse
book by Greg Garcia Greg Garcia & Mike O'Malley
music by Jimmy Buffett
at La Jolla Playhouse
by Dominique Morisseau
at Lincoln Center Theater
by Lucy Kirkwood
at National Theatre of Great Britain
by Mfoniso Udofia
at New York Theatre Workshop
by Conor McPherson
at The Old Vic
by Martin Sherman
at Public Theater
by Cheryl Strayed
at Public Theater
by Richard Nelson
at Public Theater
by Richard Bean
at Royal Shakespeare Company
by Lucas Hnath
at South Coast Repertory
by Amy Herzog
at Yale Repertory Theatre
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 335 plays to date at over 50 different Art Theatres across the country.
For over 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for U.S. theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture, and promote the professional not-for-profit theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 11,000 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 14 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.
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