Liberation Theatre Company Is Accepting Applications For Their Writing Residency Program For 2020-2021
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 01, 2020
Liberation Theatre Company (LTC), a Harlem-based independent theatrical producer and playwright development company established in 2009, is inviting applications from early-career playwrights to participate in the fourth year of their Writing Residency Program for 2020-2021.
The Writing Residency Program has worked with groups of playwrights every year since its first class in 2017-2018. LTC will select four Black playwrights and provide them with dramaturgical and professional support over a ten-month period, during which time they will each be required to complete the first draft of an original full-length play.
Support for the program has been provided by the New York State Council on the Arts and The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York.
"This residency is at the very heart of what we do," said Sandra A. Daley-Sharif, Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Liberation Theatre Company. "We provide a very necessary support network for playwrights who often work in isolation and don't feel supported in finding their artistic voice and telling the kinds of stories they want to tell. As we've seen over the past three years, it is desperately needed, and we continue to see an increase in the number of applicants."
The deadline to submit an application is Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Submissions will only be accepted by using the form found at this link.
Starting in May, playwrights selected for the residency will attend monthly group meetings to share and receive feedback on their work collaboratively. They will also receive opportunities for individual meetings in support of their career growth and artistic needs, and have the resources of a director and professional actors during a table read around the mid-point of the program.
LTC will also provide access to theatre tickets when available, through the generous support of a network of New York City theatres and producers, and seek to make introductions to other Working Theatre professionals to assist playwrights in advancing their careers.
The Writing Residency Program will conclude in the Spring of 2021 with public readings of the finished plays.
Liberation Theatre Company was established in 2009 with the mission to create a home for emerging Black playwrights to develop their work and express themselves artistically in a supportive and focused environment.
In 2010, LTC initiated Harlem9, a successful collaboration of Black theatre producers in Harlem, which began producing the annual 48Hours in... Harlem 10-minute play festival in August 2011. 48Hours in... Harlem received an Obie Award in 2014, and has since produced 48Hours in...El Bronx, 48Hours in...Detroit and 48Hours in...Holy Ground, the last two produced for the first time in 2019. Anthologies of plays written for the festivals have been published and made available to drama schools, libraries and the general public.
LTC is managed by Sandra A. Daley-Sharif, co-founder and Producing Artistic Director, Spencer Scott Barros, co-founder and Associate Artistic Director, and Bernard J. Tarver, Associate Producing Director.
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