Sun Valley Playwright's Residency Names Pulitzer Finalist Talene Monahon 2026-2027 Resident Playwright

Sun Valley Playwright's Residency has announced Talene Monahon as its 2026-2027 Resident Playwright. A hybrid artist retreat, commissioning program, and new play development lab, SVPR works with one playwright each year to take a new play from idea to full draft, providing the time, resources, and creative support to write while inviting the surrounding community into the process through free readings, workshops, conversations, and other public programs.

Monahon is the playwright behind Meet the Cartozians, which was a 2026 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, won the 2026 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off Broadway Play, and was a Drama Desk Award nominee. As SVPR's sixth Resident Playwright, Monahon will receive a commission and dedicated residency time in the Wood River Valley to develop a new play exploring four generations of professional Mormon family musicians, with music by two-time Tony Award nominee Will Butler (Stereophonic), a longtime member of Arcade Fire.

Monahon's residency comes as SVPR celebrates five years of supporting playwrights and developing new work in Idaho. Since its founding, the organization has built a model centered on sustained investment in a single playwright. The residency begins with dedicated writing time in Idaho, including a stay at The Community Library's Ernest and Mary Hemingway House. The playwright then returns home to continue writing and developing the play over the course of the year, with ongoing creative support from SVPR, before returning to Idaho the following fall for further development and a free public sharing of the work. Along the way, SVPR creates opportunities for the community to engage directly with the playwright and the work through readings, workshops, conversations, and other public programs.

The results of that work have extended far beyond Idaho. New plays commissioned and/or developed through SVPR have subsequently been produced Off-Off Broadway, Off Broadway, and on Broadway. David Cale's Blue Cowboy, SVPR's first commissioned play, was produced by The Bushwick Starr; Queens by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, SVPR's 2022-2023 Resident Playwright, was produced Off Broadway by Manhattan Theatre Club; and Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter, developed through SVPR's NYC playwrights group, went on to Broadway, where it was directed by Tony Award winner Joe Mantello and starred Tony Award winner Laurie Metcalf. The play received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. The work continues this November, when Max Posner's Hanukkah Spectacular, commissioned during his 2024-2025 SVPR residency, makes its world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., directed by Tony Award winner and MacArthur “Genius” David Cromer.

“Five years ago, Jonathan Kane and I wanted to try something different—a playwright residency that would build a creative home for writers in Idaho and give them the time, resources, and community to develop ambitious new work,” says SVPR Co-Founder and Artistic Director John Baker. “We wanted to create a place where artists could work deeply, take creative risks, and where our community could become part of the life of a new play. It's incredibly gratifying to see plays we've commissioned and developed go from Idaho to Off-Off Broadway, Off Broadway, and Broadway. Talene is the kind of playwright we created SVPR to support: she has a singular voice, an extraordinary theatrical imagination, and a real appetite for taking on ambitious material. We're thrilled to welcome her to Idaho and give her the time, space, and creative support to develop this new play with Will Butler.”

As part of the first phase of her year-long SVPR residency, Monahon will spend this October as the Writer-In-Residence at the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House, which sits on 14 acres along the Big Wood River, looking out on the Pioneer and Boulder Mountains. The private home is owned and operated by The Community Library and is the site of a year-round artist residency, education, and ongoing preservation.

“We are thrilled to continue this wonderful partnership with SVPR, focusing a month of our residency program on playwriting and supporting new play development,” says Martha Williams, director of programs at The Community Library. “Ernest Hemingway's final home offers a peaceful and private space for reflection, ideation, and creation, in a landscape that inspires and surprises. And, our amazing community is so supportive of the writers and artists who spend time here.”

“I couldn't be more excited to be spending October in Sun Valley," says Talene Monahon. "The piece I'll be working on explores four generations of professional Mormon family musicians with music by the singular Will Butler and I can't think of a better or more beautiful backdrop against which to write this story than Hemingway's home in the American West. I'm eager to explore the community and nature of Sun Valley and to finally read A Moveable Feast. Naturally, I will miss my cats and my boyfriend very much, but it will be worth it to leave them for this!”

During her October residency, Monahon will also meet Wood River Valley and Boise audiences through a series of free public programs, including a conversation about Meet the Cartozians at The Community Library and readings of her play The Good John Proctor featuring students from Boise State University.

Committed to making its programming accessible to all, SVPR does not charge admission to its events, grounded in the belief that art and culture belong to everyone and should be accessible to everyone—now more than ever. This commitment to free, public programming is made possible by the generous support of individuals and foundations, whose contributions sustain SVPR's work with both the local community and theatre artists.

SVPR's 2026 programming is made possible, in part, through partnerships with The Community Library, Boise Contemporary Theater, and Boise State University's School of the Arts and Department of Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing. Additional support comes from The Spur Community Foundation, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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