Connor McKenna Receives Playwriting Residency Grant From Jeffrey L. Nissen Arts Education & Development Fund
The JLN Arts grant supports McKenna's historical play exploring John Muir, colonialism, and Indigenous land stewardship.
The Jeffrey L. Nissen Arts Education & Development Fund (JLN Arts), in partnership with Hudson Valley Writers Residency (HVWR), has awarded its August 2026 Playwriting Residency Grant to playwright Connor McKenna, who will spend the month of August developing his new play, John Muir's Fires, during a fully funded residency in the Hudson Valley.
Awarded twice annually, the JLN Arts' Playwriting Residency Grant provides playwrights with dedicated time, housing, travel support, and a grocery stipend, allowing them to focus exclusively on developing new theatrical work in an immersive creative environment.
McKenna's John Muir's Fires is a new historical play exploring the legacy of Scottish-American naturalist John Muir through the lens of Indigenous land stewardship, environmental history, and climate change. Drawing from Muir's writings alongside historical and contemporary Indigenous testimony, the play examines the complex intersection of conservation, colonialism, and the enduring relationship between people and the land.
"I've been researching this piece for a long while now, so I'm incredibly excited to spend my residency finally putting it onto the page," said McKenna. "I'm looking forward to shaping these different threads of history into a piece of theatre, and I can't imagine a better place than the Hudson Valley to write a play so deeply connected to nature."
McKenna becomes the second recipient of the residency grant following playwright and performer Sarah Goeke, who completed a full-length draft of her play Forked during the program's inaugural January residency.
"Hosting our inaugural JLN Arts playwright resident proved even more meaningful than I could have imagined," said Bjorn Thorstad, Founder and Executive Director of Hudson Valley Writers Residency. "Sarah brought extraordinary creativity and joy to our community, reinforcing how transformative fully supported residencies can be. We're thrilled to welcome Connor this August and look forward to continuing a long legacy of JLN Arts fellows whose work will help shape the future of live theatre."
"The Playwriting Residency Grant exists because we believe artists deserve the time, space, and financial support to create ambitious new work," said Ben Nissen, Founding Executive Director of JLN Arts. "By investing in playwrights and partnering with organizations like Hudson Valley Writers Residency, we're not only supporting individual artists—we're strengthening the cultural fabric of our region and helping ensure that important new stories have the opportunity to be written."
The collaboration between JLN Arts and HVWR combines JLN Arts' mission of expanding access to artistic opportunities with HVWR's immersive live-work residency model, creating an environment where playwrights can focus on their craft while becoming part of a vibrant creative community in the Hudson Valley.
