Arena Stage Receives Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for FREMONT AVE.

Arena Stage has received the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award for Fremont Ave. by Reggie D. White, directed by Lili-Anne Brown. The award provides support for additional rehearsal time with the full creative team prior to the world premiere, with the aim of extending the life of the work beyond its first run. Fremont Ave. received a two-week extension at Arena Stage following critical acclaim, playing its final performance yesterday, December 7. The play will have its West Coast premiere at South Coast Repertory in spring 2026, with performances scheduled to begin April 25.

“Each year, the Edgerton Foundation’s support sustains the heartbeat of new play development,” said TCG Co-Executive Director of National Engagement LaTeshia Ellerson. “By giving playwrights, directors, and their collaborators more time to experiment and refine, these awards ensure that the most daring and transformative stories can take root and thrive beyond their premieres.”

“Reggie D. White’s Fremont Ave. exemplifies the kind of layered, courageous storytelling that defines Arena's commitment to new work,” said Arena Stage Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif. “The Edgerton Foundation’s support was crucial in building a story that is as tender as it is unflinching, as vulnerable as it is hilarious, and we’re thrilled for its resonance to expand beyond DC to the West Coast as we partner with our friend David Ivers and South Coast Repertory.”

As part of the 2025 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards, Fremont Ave. joins 15 other new works receiving support this year. The full list of recipients include:

Reconstruction
at Alabama Shakespeare Festival
by Robert Schenkkan

Dear Alien
at Alley Theatre
by Liz Duffy Adams

Fremont Ave.
at Arena Stage
by Reggie D. White

Cowboys and East Indians
at Denver Center Theatre Co
by Nina McConigley & Matthew Spangler

Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia
at Geffen Playhouse
by Beth Hyland

Ashland Avenue
at Goodman Theatre
by Lee Kirk

Iceboy!
at Goodman Theatre
by Erin Quinn Purcell & Jay Reiss

The Heart
at La Jolla Playhouse
by Kait Kerrigan

The Recipe
at La Jolla Playhouse
by Claudia Shear

Aztlan: a Journey Back to Homeland
at Magic Theatre
by Luis Alfaro

The Balusters
at Manhattan Theatre Club
by David Lindsay-Abaire

The Land of the Living
at National Theatre
by David Lan

My Joy is Heavy
at New York Theatre Workshop
by The Bengsons

The Woman Question
at People's Light
by Suli Holum

Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo
at Perelman Performing Arts Center
by Jennifer Nettles

The Monsters: A Sibling Love Story
at Two River Theater
by Ngozi Anyanwu

Over the last 19 years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded $19,670,534 to 569 productions, leading to nearly 1,600 subsequent productions at TCG Member Theatres following their world premieres. Forty-three have made it to Broadway, including three that had their world premiere or pre-Broadway development at Arena Stage: Next to Normal, 33 Variations, and Dear Evan Hansen. Others include Skeleton Crew, Paradise Square, Curtains, 13, 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, A Doll's House Part 2, Indecent, Oslo, Escape to Margaritaville, The Prom, JUNK: The Golden Age of Debt, SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, Head Over Heels, Cost of Living, English, Prayer for the French Republic, McNeal, and The Constituent.

Twenty-one plays have been nominated for Tony Awards, with All the Way, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Oslo winning Best Play or Best Musical. Sixteen plays have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with wins for Primary Trust (2024), English (2023), The Hot Wing King (2021), Cost of Living (2018), Hamilton (2016), The Flick (2014), Water by the Spoonful (2012), and Next to Normal (2010).