NYTW Launches 2050 Fellowship for Aspiring Theatre Administrators

By: Feb. 24, 2017
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New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced the launch of the new 2050 Administrative Fellowship Program for aspiring theatre administrators.

The sister program to the 2050 Artistic Fellowship Program, the 2050 Administrative Fellowship will be a unique training ground for twelve early-career arts administrators with a unique cultural perspective inclusive of race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, class, physical ability and sexual orientation who are interested in working in an administrative capacity at a not-for-profit arts organization.

Replacing the current internship program, the new fellowship represents one of several NYTW initiatives to address the economic barriers that may prevent talented individuals from pursuing careers in the theatre.

Applications for the first full season, which will run from July 2017 through June 2018, are due by 5pm EST on April 1, 2017.

The 2050 Administrative Fellowship will offer twelve season-long, 30-hour-per-week paid positions to young people interested in working in an administrative capacity at a non-profit arts organization. The program will include Fellowships specializing in all areas of theatre administration including: Artistic Programming, Casting, Community Engagement, Development, Education, Executive, Finance & Operations, Literary, Marketing, Producing, and Production Management. Each Fellow will work directly with the department head and their team in their respective area of focus.

In parallel with the Artistic Fellowship, the 2050 Administrative Fellows Program will begin with a three-day intensive seminar where Fellows will be introduced to NYTW and the basics of arts administration, meet industry professionals, and begin to develop their Fellowship goals in partnership with their supervisors. Once a month, Fellows will meet for a Brown Bag Lunch series with members of the NYTW staff and invited guests from the theatre community in a low-key, social atmosphere. Fellows will also attend full staff and departmental meetings and participate in monthly seminars to discuss their work, share ideas, and receive specialized career development training advice from experts in the field.

Interested applicants can apply now at NYTW.org.

The 2050 Fellowship is named in celebration of the U.S. Census Bureau's projection that by the year 2050, there will be no single racial or ethnic majority in the United States. This projection provokes thoughts at New York Theatre Workshop about the transformations that will take place in the American landscape - demographically, technologically, environmentally, and artistically. They are a catalyst for broader questions about our moral and artistic future. How do we define diversity? Whose stories aren't being told? What lies ahead for our world? In response to these questions, NYTW has expanded and renamed our longstanding Fellowship program to support the diversity of voices and aesthetics that will make up this new minority majority.

2050 Artistic Fellows have had their work produced and have directed throughout New York and the country. Recent credits include Nat Turner in Jerusalem at NYTW (by Nathan Alan Davis); Red Speedo at NYTW (directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz); Ironbound at Women's Project/Rattlestick (by Martyna Majok); War at Yale Rep and Lincoln Center (by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz); Cardboard Piano at Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival of New American Plays (by Hansol Jung); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. at Soho Rep (directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz); An Octoroon at Soho Rep/TFANA and Gloria at The Vineyard (written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins); Sojourners at the Playwrights Realm and The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare Theatre Company (directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar); Men on Boats at Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons (directed by Will Davis); Little Children Dream of God at the Roundabout Underground (by Jeff Augustin); Reverberation at Hartford Stage and The Legend of Georgia McBride at MCC (by Matthew Lopez); Hand Foot Fizzle Face at JACK and Old Paper Houses at Irondale (directed by Tara Ahmadinejad). Additionally, in 2016 Will Davis was named Artistic Director of American Theater Company in Chicago, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was named a 2016 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his play Gloria and a 2016 MacArthur "Genius" Grant Winner.

The 2050 Artistic Fellows are emerging artists who, with their unique voices, give us perspective on the world in which we live; and who challenge us all to contend with this changing world. With the Fellowship, NYTW is re-affirming its responsibility to nurture artists who reflect this multiplicity of perspectives, challenge the dominant paradigm and give voice to those whose experiences are not often heard.

The 2016/17 2050 Artistic Fellows are Beto O'Byrne, Ming Peiffer, Francis Weiss Rabkin, Danny Sharron, Stevie Walker-Webb and Mo Zhou.

Currently on stage at NYTW and recently extended due to popular demand is THE OBJECT LESSON by NYTW Usual Suspect Geoff Sobelle (all wear bowlers) and directed by NYTW Usual Suspect David Neumann (Restless Eye), with scenic installation design by Steven Dufala. The 2016/17 season began with NAT TURNER IN JERUSALEM, written by NYTW 2050 Fellow Nathan Alan Davis (Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea) and directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian (The Convert), and continued with OTHELLO, directed by Tony Award-winner Sam Gold and featuring Daniel Craig (Betrayal, Spectre) as 'Iago' and David Oyelowo (Royal Shakespeare Company's The Histories, Selma). The season will conclude in April 2017 with NYTW Usual Suspect Mfoniso Udofia's SOJOURNERS and HER PORTMANTEAU, presented in repertory, directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and former NYTW 2050 Fellow Ed Sylvanus Iskandar (The Mysteries).

New York Theatre Workshop, now in its fourth decade of incubating important new works of theatre, continues to honor its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape all our lives. Each season, from its home in New York's East Village, NYTW presents four new productions, over 80 readings and numerous workshop productions for over 45,000 audience members. NYTW supports artists in all stages of their careers by maintaining a series of workshop programs, including work-in-progress readings, summer residencies and artist fellowships. Since its founding, NYTW has produced over 100 new, fully staged works, including Jonathan Larson's Rent; Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul; Doug Wright's Quills; Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde; Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla; Martha Clarke's Vienna: Lusthaus; Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, A Number and Love and Information; Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's Aftermath; Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová and Enda Walsh's Once; Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher; David Bowie and Enda Walsh's Lazarus; Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown; and seven acclaimed productions directed by Ivo Van Hove. NYTW's productions have received a Pulitzer Prize, seventeen Tony Awards and assorted Obie, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards.



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