Talene Monahon Named SVPR's 2026-27 Resident Playwright

The new play, developed in Idaho, will explore four generations of a Mormon family of musicians.

By: Rachel Stone Aug. 26, 2026

Sun Valley Playwright's Residency (SVPR), a nonprofit organization building a creative home for playwrights in Idaho, 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 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.

October With Talene Monahon

A Conversation with Talene Monahon
Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. MT
at The Community Library, 415 Spruce Ave, Ketchum, ID

The Community Library hosts a conversation with SVPR's 2026-2027 Resident Playwright Talene Monahon, moderated by Aly Wepplo, The Community Library's Collection Manager. The conversation will center on Monahon's acclaimed play Meet the Cartozians, which was a 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and won the 2026 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. Monahon and Wepplo will discuss the process of creating the play, bringing it to Second Stage in New York, and the experience of seeing a new work move from development into the national spotlight. The conversation will also offer audiences a glimpse into the new play Monahon will be developing during her residency in Sun Valley.

Tickets: Free of charge; reservations recommended but not required. More information is available at thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/17236911.

The Good John Proctor
Written by Talene Monahon
Directed by Jessica Ires Morris
Featuring Theatre Arts majors from Boise State University

Saturday, October 17, 2026 at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. MT
at The Argyros Performing Arts Center's Bailey Studio, 120 S. Main St., Ketchum, ID

and

Sunday, October 18, 2026 at 4 p.m. MT
at Boise Contemporary Theater, 854 W. Fulton Street, Boise, ID

Sun Valley Playwright's Residency, in collaboration with Boise State University's Department of Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing and Boise Contemporary Theater, presents free readings of Talene Monahon's The Good John Proctor in Ketchum and Boise. Directed by Jessica Ires Morris, the readings will feature Theatre Arts majors from Boise State University. The Ketchum readings on Saturday, October 17, will be followed by light refreshments and brief conversations with Monahon moderated by SVPR Advisory Board Member and former Company of Fools Co-Artistic Director Denise Simone. The Boise program on Sunday, October 18, will begin with a 4 p.m. Q&A with Monahon, followed by the reading.

The Good John Proctor was named one of The New Yorker's 'Top 10 Best Plays of 2023.' The play takes inspiration from Arthur Miller's The Crucible and brings Monahon's distinctive combination of historical reimagining, dark humor, and theatrical invention to one of the most famous stories in the American dramatic canon.

Tickets: Free of charge; seating is limited; reservations are required. More information is available at www.sunvalleyplaywrights.org.

About the Artists

Talene Monahon is a playwright, performer and docu-theater maker based in Brooklyn. Her play Meet the Cartozians was a 2026 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama as well as receiving the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off Broadway Play and a Drama Desk Award nomination. Other plays include The Good John Proctor (Bedlam, The New Yorker's 'Top 10 Best Plays of 2023'), Eat Me (South Coast Rep), Jane Anger (The New Ohio, 2022 Off-Broadway Alliance Best New Play Nominee), and the docu-theater piece How to Load a Musket (59E59, TheaterMania's 'Best Theater of 2020'). Upcoming productions include Wonder! A Woman Keeps a Secret, premiering at Classic Stage Company in May 2027, and Meet the Cartozians at the Huntington Theater and Berkeley Rep. Talene is currently commissioned with Second Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Studio Theatre. She teaches Playwriting at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. B.A. Dartmouth College.

Will Butler is a musician, composer, and performer and a two-time Tony Award nominee for his work on Stereophonic. He was nominated for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre for the production's original music and, alongside Justin Craig, for Best Orchestrations. Stereophonic won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Play. Butler is a former member of the Grammy Award-winning band Arcade Fire.

Jessica Ires Morris is a graduate of Smith College and California Institute of the Arts. She has worked in regional theaters all over the United States and internationally, on network television, as a voice over artist and in commercials and industrials. She was a long time company member of The Shakespeare Theater of NJ and the Hippodrome State Theater of Florida. She is a teaching artist and performer with Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT), and has taught acting at Boise State and The University of Florida. Jessica curates BCT's 5x5 reading series and has performed in the theater's BIPOC Festival of New Plays, as well as in the world premiere of Juan Jose Alfonso's Middle of the World. She narrated the Emmy award winning 'SARA: A Life in Dreams and a Pictures,' produced by Idaho Public Television. She can currently be heard as the voice of multiple characters in the Ambie nominated, hit podcast, Midnight Burger.

About Sun Valley Playwright's Residency

Sun Valley Playwright's Residency is a nonprofit organization building a creative home for playwrights in Idaho. SVPR commissions and develops new plays by one Resident Playwright each year, providing time, resources, creative support, and opportunities for the local community to engage with the playwright and their work. Resident Playwrights include David Cale (2021-2022), Martyna Majok (2022-2023), Rajiv Joseph (2023-2024), Max Posner (2024-2025), Stephen Karam (2025-2026), and Talene Monahon (2026-2027). For more information, visit www.sunvalleyplaywrights.org. Instagram: @sunvalleyplaywrights

About the Partners

The Community Library brings information, ideas, and individuals together to enhance the cultural life of central Idaho. Founded in 1955 by seventeen women, the Library provides free access to books and educational programs and resources and encompasses a public library, the Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History, the Wood River Museum of History + Culture, and the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House and Preserve. The Community Library owns and operates the Hemingway House, where Hemingway lived and wrote during the final years of his life, from 1959-1961. The Library launched its Writer-in-Residence program at the Hemingway House in 2019, providing writers and artists with the opportunity to live and work on the historic property while contributing to the literary life of the Wood River Valley.

Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT) is a professional nonprofit theater company in Boise, Idaho, whose mission is to inspire the community to examine perspectives and better understand ourselves, each other, and the world around us by creating thought-provoking stories of the human experience. Founded in 1997, BCT is the only nonprofit professional theater within 300 miles dedicated to producing challenging new work. BCT is a recipient of the Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, a two-time recipient of the National Theater Company Award from the American Theater Wing, and the 2022-23 City of Boise Cultural Ambassador. Entering its 30th Season, BCT has presented over 100 MainStage productions, including over 25 world premieres such as Eric Coble's The Velocity of Autumn, which continued to Broadway. The annual BIPOC Playwrights Festival, launched in 2021, furthers a commitment to presenting diverse new voices. BCT's education program, A.C.T. at BCT, strives to reach a broad audience representative of the surrounding community, serving over 2,000 students through on-site and outreach Theater Lab programs in which students conceive, write, produce, and perform in their own original productions. BCT's expanding outreach programs include underserved schools with high populations of low-income, at-risk, and refugee students.

Boise State University's Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing serves as a partnership of programs focusing on the learning, practice, and interaction of the dramatic, cinematic, and literary arts. With the support of the School of the Arts at Boise State, the department strives to foster rigorous intellectual investigation of form, practice, and theory and an active arts community through undergraduate research, professional training, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary collaboration between each of its programs.