Jireh Breon Holder's Civil Rights Work TOO HEAVY FOR YOUR POCKET Gets Rolling World Premiere with Roundabout

The Trustees of The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation, Inc. have announced that Too Heavy For Your Pocket by JIRÉH BREON HOLDER is recipient of the Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Award.

Mr. Holder will receive $50,000 for the work, and Roundabout Theater Company, who will present a rolling world premiere in the 2017 - 2018 season, will receive $100,000 towards the production. This rolling world premiere also includes a production at the ALLIANCE THEATRE in Atlanta, GA (Susan V. Booth, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director; Mike Schleifer, Managing Director).

Too Heavy For Your Pocket is set during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, where two couples contemplate justice, love, and their responsibility in rural Tennessee.

David Saint, President of The Laurents Hatcher Foundation said, "Our panel unanimously felt the enormous skill and power of Jiréh Breon Holder's play. It's a most worthy recipient of this award."

In a statement, Roundabout Theatre Company Artistic Director/CEO Todd Haimes said, "I'm thrilled that Too Heavy for Your Pocket has been chosen as the 2017 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award recipient. I'm very proud that Roundabout's Underground program, which has launched the careers of twelve writers over the past ten seasons, has the distinguished honor of presenting a play with the Foundation's support. But above all, I'm happy for Jiréh. This award is truly life-changing for a playwright, and he richly deserves it. The committee has recognized, in him and this play, a unique voice - and an impressive achievement in playwriting. It's difficult to capture both emotional vibrancy and historical authenticity in a period play, but in Too Heavy for Your Pocket, Jiréh has found a way. His writing is beautiful, his story powerful, and his characters unforgettable. I'm looking forward to having the play on our stage next season."

In addition to the annual prize the Foundation also awarded Citations of Excellence to Bekah Brunstetter for her play The Cake and Mat Smart for Eden Prairie, 1971. Brunstetter and Smart will each receive $15,000.

Established in 2010, The LAURENTS / HATCHER FOUNDATION AWARD is an annual prize to be given for an un-produced, full-length play by an emerging American playwright. In addition to being one of the country's largest grants for new work, The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation Award is the first major award for playwriting to be named in honor of a gay couple: Tony Award winning playwright and director Arthur Laurents and his partner of 52 years, Tom Hatcher.

Arthur Laurents' career as a writer for the stage and screen spanned over 65 years, beginning with his playThe Home of the Brave, which premiered on Broadway in 1945. Known for having written the books for musicals such as Gypsy and West Side Story as well as the screenplays for The Way We Were, The Turning Point and Alfred Hitchcock's Rope, Mr. Laurents premiered many of his most recent plays at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse. His final memoir, The Rest of the Story, was posthumously published in the fall of 2012.

Tom Hatcher, who died in October 2006, began his career as an actor but moved into real estate as a contractor and then as a developer. He created the private park adjoining the house in Quogue, Long Island that was home for the couple.

JIRÉH BREON HOLDER (Playwright, Too Heavy for Your Pocket) is currently the Playwriting Fellow of the Department of Theater and Creative Writing at Emory University. He is an Atlanta area playwright, director, and dramaturg. His sharp and often political plays frequently include wild visual metaphors and address the magic of everyday life in the South. In 2016, he received his MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama and co-founded Pyramid Theatre Company in Des Moines, Iowa. From 2012-13, he served as the Kenny Leon Fellow at the Tony Award-winning ALLIANCE THEATRE. He graduated cum laude from Morehouse College (B.A. Theatre) where he served as the artistic director of Spelman College Playwrights' Workshop and directed several productions. His plays have received productions at the ALLIANCE THEATRE, the Yale School of Drama and Yale Cabaret. He has also received readings at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, the Kennedy Center, and the Old Globe Theatre. As a theater artist with a strong political impulse, many of his plays and projects address the prison industrial complex, human rights, and agricultural/environmental sustainability. He is a firm believer that art changes lives, and each project he is involved with seeks to touch people one audience at a time.

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) is committed to producing the highest-quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure and providing accessibility to all audiences. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the production of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate and engage all audiences. Founded in 1965, Roundabout presents this work on its five stages and across the country through national tours. Since moving to Broadway 20 years ago, Roundabout productions have received 208 Tony Award nominations, 202 Drama Desk nominations and 239 Outer Critics Circle nominations. More information on Roundabout's mission, history and variety of programs can be found throughout this Playbill or by visiting roundabouttheatre.org.

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