Jessica Huang Named 4 Seasons Residency's Inaugural Recipient

The National Winter Playwrights Retreat (HBMG Foundation, CO), Ignition Arts (OK), Seven Devils Playwrights Conference (ID), and Tofte Lake Center (MN), in collaboration with National New Play Network, announce the launch the 4 Seasons Residency with inaugural playwright Jessica Huang. For the first time in new play development history, four nationally renowned organizations collaborate in support of a single artist over the course of one calendar year. Comprised of four intensive, periodic retreats, the 4 Seasons Residency takes a holistic, artist-centered, and long-term approach to new play development, employing an innovative model of deep collaboration between institutions toward the professional and creative growth of an individual artist.

The 4 Seasons Residency is committed to supporting writers who are examining the American Experience, to investing in diverse voices, and to giving time and space to writers who will add to the canon meaningful roles for women.

Starting in Winter 2020, Jessica Huang will experience each organization's unique approach to new play development and artistic support over four seasons, culminating in National New Play Network's National Showcase of New Plays in Winter 2020. For the first program year, each organization nominated playwright candidates to form a select pool of finalists - representing some of the most compelling voices in contemporary American theater. In recognition of the prestige of this group of finalists, each organization is offering all candidates the opportunity for continued submission and engagement.

From Huang: "It's an honor to be the inaugural 4 Seasons resident and I look forward to creating new work about climate change, women's rights, and Asian American history with the support and collaboration of HBMG, Ignition Arts, Seven Devils, and Tofte Lake Center. Over the years, I have been lucky to receive several opportunities to work on my plays with the support of retreat centers; these periods of stillness and deep creative focus have been instrumental in focusing, re-energizing, and inspiring complexity and deep honesty in my work. I am overwhelmed by the abundance of the 4 Seasons Residency - four distinct and beautiful suspended moments to think, explore, and encourage new work to arise from the quiet."

Jessica Huang's work includes The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (History Theatre commission & premiere, 2017 Kilroy's List, 2018 Barry and Bernice Stavis Award), Purple Cloud (Mu Performing Arts premiere), and Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying (Mixed Blood Theater commission). She has commissions with Manhattan Theatre Club, TimeLine Theatre Company, Theater Masters, History Theatre, and Theater Mu. Her work has been developed, commissioned, and/or produced by Atlantic Theater Company, New York Theatre Workshop, The New Group, New York Stage and Film, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, The Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Minnesota Museum of American Art, Yellow Earth Theatre and many more. She is a MacDowell Fellow; two-time Playwrights' Center Jerome Fellow; and Playwrights' Center Many Voices Fellow; and has received awards from the Sloan Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board and The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council/McKnight. Jessica co-founded and co-directs Other Tiger Productions, a theatrical production company with a mission to pursue multidisciplinary collaborations, intentional inclusivity and a re-examination of traditional theater practices. She has been a member of The Civilians R&D Group, and is a member of Two River Theater Emerging Playwrights Group, Ars Nova Play Group, Page 73's Interstate 73, and is the 2019 resident playwright at Chance Theater. She attends the Playwrights Program at Juilliard. jessica-huang.com |New Play Exchange

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