TCG Announces Twenty-Seven 2009 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards Totaling $ 772,000

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for not for profit professional theatre, is pleased to announce that in 2009, twenty-seven Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards were granted to theatres around the country.

The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award was piloted in 2006 with the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles and launched nationally in 2007. The award provides Theatre Communication Group member theatres with financial resources to increase rehearsal time with the full production team, including the playwrights, onsite at the producing theatre. The total of awards to date is seventy-three ($ 2,292,000).

"There is no replacement for time when it comes to developing new plays. Our recent production of Tarell Alvin McCraney's break though trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays, is testament to that fact," said Emily Mann, McCarter Theatre artistic director. "In large part due to the extended rehearsal period provided by The Edgerton Foundation, The Brother/Sister Plays opened to great acclaim at McCarter Theatre. The plays then moved on to our partner, The Public Theater in New York, where audiences and critics alike hailed McCraney as one of the new voices of his generation."

http://marintheatre.org/index.php

The 2009 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards were presented to:

ALLIANCE THEATRE, Atlanta, GA

Tennis in Nablus

by Ismail Khalidi

American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA

Red Sox Nation

by Richard Dresser, Robert Reale, & Willie Reale
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley, CA

Concerning Strange Devices From the Distant West

by Naomi Iizuka

City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh, PA

When January Feels Like Summer

By Cori Thomas

Denver Center Theatre Company, Denver, CO

Eventide

by Eric Schmiedl

Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, CA

Matthew Modine Saves the Alpacas

by Blair Singer

La Jolla Playhouse, La Jolla, CA

Restoration

by Claudia Shear

Lincoln Center Theater, NY, NY

The Grand Manner

By A.R. Gurney

Long Wharf, New Haven, CT

Lil's 90th

by Darci Picoult

Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley, CA

Sunlight

by Sharr White

McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ

Fetch Clay, Make Man

by Will Power

New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch, NJ

Exposure Time

By Kim Merrill

Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena, CA

Havana

by Nilo Cruz, Frank Wildhorn, & Jack Murphy
The Old Globe, San Diego, CA

Sammy

by Leslie Bricusse

Performance Network Theatre, Ann Arbor, MI

It Came From Mars

by Joseph Zettelmaier

Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia, PA

Golden Age

by Terrence McNally

Phoenix Theatre, Phoenix, AZ

All The More to Love

by Marc Jacobs, Marion Adler, & Craig Bohmier

Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY

The Burnt Part Boys

by Mariana Elder, Chris Miller, & Nathan Tysen

Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY

This

by Melissa James Gibson

Salt Lake Acting Company, Salt Lake City, UT

Charm

by Cathleen Cahill

Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA

Sycamore Trees

by Ricky Ian Gordon

South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, CA

The Happy Ones

by Julie Marie Myatt

South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, CA

In a Garden

by Howard Korder

Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, IL

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

by Kristoffer Diaz

Wilma Theater, Philadelphia, PA

Language Rooms

by Yussef El Guindi

Women's Project, New York, NY

Lascivious Something

by Sheila Callaghan

Woolly Mammoth, Washington, D.C.

Eclipsed

by Danai Gurira

"We are currently in rehearsal for the premiere of Fetch Clay, Make Man by Will Power, in which the additional rehearsal time with all of the key creators at the table (playwright, director, actors, etc.) is already proving to be invaluable," Mann continued. "The work is thrilling. As with The Brother/Sister Plays, The Edgerton Foundation's commitment to providing time for in-depth rehearsal makes it more likely that a first production can realize its potential."

Selected theatres with a strong and consistent track record of producing new work are invited by the foundation to submit letters of inquiry to the Foundation: plays@edgertonfoundation.org. A panel of readers reviews the plays, and one-time grants (ranging from $5,000 - $75,000) are awarded. To date, 73 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards have been granted and 34 plays have gone on to further professional productions.

These subsequent productions have been performed and/or are scheduled for performances across the country and the globe in almost thirty regional companies, five repertory companies, and an international festival in Ireland. Six have made it to Broadway including Curtains, 13, Next To Normal, 33 Variations, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), and Time Stands Still. Four others have had off Broadway productions of plays first staged in regional theatres: Back, Back, Back, Equivocation, Restoration, and The Brother/Sister Plays.

More information on each of the plays can be found on the TCG website: http://www.tcg.org/tools/newplays/index.cfm

The following thirty-four Edgerton Foundation New Play Award recipients have gone on or been scheduled to have subsequent productions following their world premiere productions:
2009

Eclipsed by Danai Gurira at Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C.

Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety by Kristoffer Diaz at Victory Gardens Theatre, Chicago, IL

Golden Age by Terence McNally at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia,PA

It Came From Mars by Joseph Zettelmaier at Performance Network in Ann Arbor, MI

Restoration by Claudia Shear at La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA

Sunlight by Sharr White at Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley, CA

2008

Back Back Back By Itamar Moses at The Old Globe in San Diego, CA

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph at Kirk Douglas Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

Brother Sister/Plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney at McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ

Equivocation By Bill Cain at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR

Farragut North By Beau Willimon at Atlantic Theatre Company in New York, NY

In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) By Sarah Ruhl at Berkeley Rep in Berkeley, CA

Inana by Michele Lowe at Denver Center Theatre, Denver, CO

Managing Maxine by Janece Shaffer at ALLIANCE THEATRE, Atlanta, GA

My Name is Asher Lev By Aaron Posner at Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, PA

Out of Sterno by Deborah Zoe Laufer at Portland Stage, Portland, ME

Po Boy Tango by Kenneth Lin at Northlight Theatre, Skokie, IL

Resurrection By Daniel Beaty at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

You, Nero By Amy Freed at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, CA
2007

13th of Paris by Mat Smart at City Theater, Pittsburgh, PA

33 Variations by Moises Kaufman at Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.

Better Late by Larry Gelbart and Craig Wright at Northlight Theater, Chicago, IL

Book Club Play By Karen Zacarias at Round House Theater, Washington, D.C.

Crowd You're in With By Rebecca Gilman at Magic Theatre in San Francisco, CA

For Better By Eric Coble at Curious Theatre in Denver, CO

Magnetic North By William Donnelly at Portland Stage in Portland, ME

Next to Normal By Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey at Second Stage Theatre in New York, NY

Time Stands Still By Donald Margulies at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, CA

Tranced By Bob Clyman at Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA

Trumpery By Peter Parnell at Atlantic Theatre Company in New York, NY

Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter By Julie Marie Myatt at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in

Ashland, OR

Wittenberg By David Davalos at Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, PA
2006

Curtains by Rupert Holmes, John Kander, and Fred Ebb at Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles

13 by Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish at Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles, CA

Other areas of focus for The Edgerton Foundation are the environment, global security and Los Angeles institutions.