The Playwrights Realm Announces Their Writers Fellows Program

Each year The Playwrights Realm will choose a select number of emerging playwrights as the "Playwrights Realm Writers Fellows." As a Writers Fellow, the chosen playwrights will receive a monetary stipend, as well as additional support in the form of, office space at The Playwrights Realm offices, office supplies, administrative assistance, and artistic support all culminating in an open reading of their work.

"The "Playwrights Realm Writers Fellows" builds on our core values, fostering new voices by providing them with a home base, a dramaturgical process, and all the resources we can muster: everything from a printer to rehearsal space," stated Playwrights Realm Artistic Director Katherine Kovner. "We are very excited about each of these writers; they all have unique points of view and styles but each of them tells stories that draw you in to the characters and sweep you away to another world. We look forward to engaging with each of them this year and providing a launching pad for the next generation of emerging playwrights."

This year, the selected "Playwrights Realm Writers Fellows" and the respective play that they will be working on at The Playwrights Realm are: Alex Lewin (RENT CONTROL), Joe Tracz (IN THE WOOD WHERE WOLVES ARE), Julia Brownell (ALL THE WAY), and Amy Herzog (AFTER THE REVOLUTION).

Alex Lewin's play THE NEAR EAST will be produced at Arena Stage and Mixed Blood Theatre in the 2010-11 season. THE NEAR EAST was also finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger award, the ALLIANCE THEATRE's Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, and the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival's Quest for Peace award. Alex's plays have been developed at Arena Stage, Geva Theatre Center, MCC, The New Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, the Lark, Emigrant Theatre (Minneapolis), Bailiwick Rep (Chicago), and New York Theatre Workshop, where he is an Artistic Associate. He is the recipient of the Ted &Adele Shank Professional Playwriting Fellowship, and a commission from Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Alex has held residencies at EST's Lexington Center for the Arts, the O'Neill Playwrights Conference, the Chautauqua Theatre Company, and New York Theatre Workshop's summer development program at Dartmouth College. Alex holds an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California at San Diego and is a member of the 2008/09 Interstate 73 Writers Group, the MCC Playwrights' Coalition, and the Dramatists Guild.

Joe Tracz is a New York-based playwright with an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. His play IN THE WOODS WHERE WOLVES ARE received a staged reading at The Public Theater as part of NYU's MFA Thesis presentations. Other full-length plays include BOY WONDERS (readings: NYU Festival of New Works; American College Theatre Festival; Performance Network of Ann Arbor, MI); SONG FOR A FUTURE GENERATION (readings: NYU Festival of New Works; Bridge Theater) and PHENOMENON OF DECLINE (Long Wharf Theatre's Next Stage Productions; ACTF). His ten-minute play MAN UP AND AWAY has appeared in festivals from Aspen to Williamstown, including an Off-Broadway showcase at 59E59. His original TV pilot FANG! premiered at the 2007 Chicago Comedy Festival. Joe is a member of Aspen Theater Masters and the director of New Play Development for the Bridge Theater Company. He holds a BA in English from Kalamazoo College, Michigan, where he recently returned to teach as a guest artist.

Julia Brownell's play SMART COOKIE won the 2008 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award and received its world premiere at the ALLIANCE THEATRE in Atlanta, Georgia in January, 2009. SMART COOKIE was workshopped by the Minneapolis Playwrights' Center, The Public Theater and Babel Theatre Project. Her play COLD ZONE was read at The Public Theater in May, 2008. Her short play GOOD GIRL was produced by The Actors Theatre of Louisville in January, 2009, was a Heideman Award finalist, and will be published in The Best Short Plays of 2009 by Smith &Kraus. Ms. Brownell is the recipient of multiple commissions from the McCarter Theatre First Stage Company in Princeton, New Jersey; and her children's play, SHOW AND SPELL, is published by Playscripts. MFA in Dramatic Writing, NYU-Tisch School of the Arts. BA, Amherst College.

Amy Herzog received the 2008 Helen Merrill Award for Aspiring Playwrights. Her plays have been produced at Ensemble Studio Theater, American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, The Williamstown Theater Festival, The Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Yale School of Drama; she has had readings and workshops at Manhattan Theater Club, New York Stage and Film, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., The Black Dahlia in Los Angeles, and The Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, among others. Amy recently completed commissions for the Yale Repertory Theatre and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her short play 508 will be included in the forthcoming Best American Short Plays: 2008-2009, published by Applause Books. Amy is an alumna of
Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater, and a current member of Play Group at Ars Nova and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. She teaches Playwriting at Bryn Mawr College. MFA in Playwriting, Yale School of Drama.