Tennessee Rep Announces Schedule for Ingram New Works Festival

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has announced its schedule for the Martha R. Ingram New Works Festival. The festival will be held May 8 - 18 and will feature staged readings of new plays from four regional playwrights as well as nationally-renowned playwright Theresa Rebeck. Rebeck is this year's recipient of the Ingram New Works Fellowship.

Staged readings will take place at Tennessee Rep's Rehearsal Hall (161 Rains Avenue, NPT Studio A).

The Martha R. Ingram New Works Fellowship was created by Tennessee Rep co-founder Martha R. Ingram to provide an opportunity for theatre artists to develop new theatre works while in residency with Tennessee Rep. Past recipients include David Alford (Clara's Hands), Victoria Stewart (Rich Girl), Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Auburn (The Columnist, which made its Broadway premiere in April 2012 and was produced by Tennessee Rep leading into this year's festival), Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner John Patrick Shanley (Storefront Church, which made its New York Premiere in May 2012), and Steven Dietz (Rancho Mirage).

Currently in its sixth year, the project has evolved to include a New Works Lab for four regional playwrights who are being mentored by Rebeck. The Lab offers these playwrights the opportunity to not only receive feedback but also hear their works read by professional actors during the writing process.

The four local playwrights-in-residence include Jennifer Blackmer, Nate Eppler, Garrett Schneider, and Brian D. Walker.

Lab participant Nate Eppler says, "The development of new plays is literally the lifeblood of theatre as a whole; to have the opportunity to develop new work with the guidance of a playwright of Theresa Rebeck's caliber is rare and wonderful, to then be able to see the voices of Nashville theatre elevated into The National Theatre conversation would be extraordinary."
Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. New York productions of her work include Dead Accounts, Seminar, Mauritius, The Scene, The Water's Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection, Our House, The Understudy, and View of the Dome. Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003) was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the Variety Arts Theatre.
In television, Rebeck has written for Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch. She was the creator of the NBC drama Smash. She has been a writer/producer for Canterbury's Law, Smith, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue. Her produced feature films include Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent features Sunday on the Rocks and Seducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene. Awards include the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award, the Writer's Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on NYPD Blue. She has won The National Theatre Conference Award (for The Family of Mann), and was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for The Bells. Mauritius was originally produced at Boston's Huntington Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well as the Eliot Norton Award. Other awards include the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, the Athena Film Festival Award, an Alex Award, a Lilly Award and in 2011 she was named one of the 150 Fearless Women in the World by Newsweek.
Since 1985, Tennessee Repertory Theatre has been a critically acclaimed regional theatre, creating the highest quality professional productions and by serving as a prime cultural, educational, and economic resource within the Nashville and Middle Tennessee communities. Tennessee Rep produces work that is designed, built, and rehearsed in Nashville by highly skilled actors, designers, directors, and technicians. A non-profit organization, Tennessee Rep is committed to consistently delivering thought-provoking theatre each year. For more information on the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, please visit www.tennesseerep.org.