New York Theatre Workshop Names 2050 Fellows for 2016-17 Season

New York Theatre Workshop has announced the playwrights and directors selected for the 2016/17 Season 2050 Fellowship. The playwrights are Beto O'Byrne, Ming Peiffer, and Francis Weiss Rabkin and the directors are Danny Sharron, Stevie Walker-Webb, and Mo Zhou.

The 2050 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 2050 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 2050 Fellows gather monthly with artists from the NYTW community to discuss craft, aesthetics and artistic development. Fellows also receive access to rehearsal space and two opportunities to share works-in-progress with the NYTW staff and entire fellowship cohort. Fellows receive mentorship from the NYTW staff and contemporary theatre artists and an invitation to participate in the artistic life of the theatre by attending staff meetings, developmental readings, dress rehearsals and other NYTW functions, including retreats in June 2016 and 2017. 2050 Fellows are awarded a stipend and an artistic development fund to support fellowship projects, see work, research and travel.

Past Fellows include Tara Ahmadinejad, Elena Araoz, Jeff Augustin, Hilary Bettis, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Jade King Carroll, Nathan Alan Davis, Will Davis, Mashuq Deen, Reginald L. Douglas, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Kareem Fahmy, Sanaz Ghajarrahimi, Noelle Ghoussaini, Simón Adinia Hanukai, Michel Hausmann, Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Hansol Jung, Patricia Ione Lloyd, Matthew Lopez, Martyna Majok, Julián J. Mesri, Alexandru Mihail, Janine Nabers, Matthew Paul Olmos, Brian Otaño, Danya Taymor, Tamilla Woodard, Zhu Yi, Pirronne Yousefzadeh and Catherine Yu.

Past 2050 Fellows have had their work produced and have directed throughout New York and the country. Recent credits of include Red Speedo at NYTW (directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz); Ironbound at Women's Project/Rattlestick (written by Martyna Majok); War at Yale Rep and Lincoln Center (written 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 upcoming Playwrights Horizons (directed by Will Davis); Little Children Dream of God at the Roundabout Underground (written by Jeff Augustin); Reverberation at Hartford Stage and The Legend of Georgia McBride at MCC (written by Matthew Lopez); Hand Foot Fizzle Face at JACK and Old Paper Houses at Irondale (directed by Tara Ahmadinejad). Additionally, Will Davis was recently named Artistic Director of American Theater Company in Chicago, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was just named a 2016 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his play Gloria.

Current 2050 Fellow Nathan Alan Davis's play Nat Turner in Jerusalem will premiere this fall as part of the 2016/2017 season at NYTW, and previous 2050 Fellow Ed Sylvanus Iskandar can be seen directing Sojourners and Her Portmanteau next spring at New York Theatre Workshop.

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 NYTW about the transformations that will take place in the American landscape - technologically, environmentally, demographically 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's longstanding Fellowship program has continually evolved to support the diversity of voices and aesthetics that will make up this new minority majority.

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; Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher; Enda Walsh's Once; 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.

The recently announced 2016/17 season at NYTW will include NAT TURNER IN JERUSALEM by NYTW 2050 Fellow Nathan Alan Davis (Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea), directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian (The Convert) in Fall 2016. It is followed by William Shakespeare's OTHELLO, directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and Tony Award winner Sam Gold (Fun Home), featuring David Oyelowo (Royal Shakespeare Company's The Histories, Selma) in the title role and Daniel Craig (Betrayal, Spectre) as 'Iago' in Winter 2016. Spring 2017 will bring THE OBJECT LESSON, by NYTW Usual Suspect Geoff Sobelle (all wear bowlers), directed by NYTW Usual Suspect David Neumann (Restless Eye), with scenic installation design by Steven Dufala. The season will conclude 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).

OTHELLO is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

2016/17 Season membership packages are now on sale at www.nytw.org or by calling 212-460-5475 (Monday-Friday noon-6pm; closed Saturday and Sunday).

Beginning Friday, May 6 at NYTW is the world premiere of a new folk opera, HADESTOWN, by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812). Opening night for HADESTOWN is set for Monday, May 23, 2016.

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