Atlantic Theater Company Announces the Judith Champion Launch Commissioning Program and Inaugural Writers

Atlantic Theater Company has announced its inaugural Judith Champion Launch Commissioning Program writers Matthew Capodicasa, Gloria Majule and Alex Riad. The Judith Champion Launch Commissioning Program offers early career playwrights, support of writing a new play and facilitating relationships in the theater industry. The generous gift from Judith Champion allows for the expansion of Atlantic's Launch Commission, whose recipients include Sanaz Toossi, Abby Rosebrock, Amy Staats, Paola Lázaro, and most recently, Nikki Massoud and Max Yu. Lázaro, Staats and Rosebrock have all received productions at Atlantic since their commissions and Toossi is represented this season with her play, English.

"Support what is most important to you," Launch Commissioning Program Underwriter Judith Champion states, "and one thing that is important to me is to nurture playwriting talent so that theater flourishes for future generations."

BIOGRAPHIES:

Matthew Capodicasa's plays include Noise in the Line, Next/Life, All the People You've Been, The City in the City in the City, The Scenarios, You Remind Me of You, Frelmetsch the Maneater, The City Of, and Chaos and Caesar Salad. His work has been presented or developed at the Kennedy Center, the National New Play Network, Primary Stages, the Flea Theater, the Abingdon Theatre, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, Bluebarn Theatre, the Bloomington Playwrights Project, Theater Masters, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Capitol Fringe, among others. He is the recipient of the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, and his plays have been finalists for the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Heideman Award. His work has been published by Samuel French, and his fiction has appeared in West 10th. Film/TV: projects in development with Anonymous Content, Annapurna Pictures, Protozoa Pictures, 3311, Video House, Endless Media, and XYZ Films. You can also hear him nerd out on various podcasts from the Glass Cannon Network. BFA, NYU/Tisch. MFA, Fordham/Primary Stages. Recent grad: Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School. He currently teaches at NYU.

GLORIA MAJULE is a playwright from Dodoma, Tanzania presently residing in Seattle, WA. She seeks to tell stories that bring multiple black voices together from across the world, and are accessible to black audiences no matter where they are. She writes primarily for and about the black diaspora. Her awards and honors include: Second Place Winner - A is For Playwriting Contest (2021); Finalist - Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition (2021), Bay Area Playwrights Festival (2021, 2020); and Semifinalist - Blue Ink Playwriting Award (2022), Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series (2020). Her plays have been developed at Stockton University, Westport Country Playhouse, Yale Cabaret, Aye Defy, Yale School of Drama, and the Schwartz Center for Performing and Media Arts. Gloria graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a BA in Performing & Media Arts and Spanish, and holds an MFA in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama.

ALEX RIAD is an Egyptian-American writer based in New York City. He's a part of The Lark's Middle Eastern Writers Lab, the Literary Fellow at The Farm Theater, a member of The Actor's Studio Playwright Unit, and a 2019-2022 Lila Acheson Wallace American playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School. NY Theatre Credits: The Wild Parrots of Campbell (Cherry Lane Theater), The Floor is Lava (LaMama Experimental Theatre, 2017 Planet Connections Festival Best Play), If You Ever Come by Here (The Tank), and When You Go (The Tank).

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director). At Atlantic, our aim is singular-to empower simple and honest storytelling that fosters greater understanding of our shared world. We are a family of artists dedicated to exploring essential truths onstage, be it a show at Atlantic Theater Company or a class at Atlantic Acting School. As a producer, presenter, and educator of theater, we are driven by the belief that theater can challenge and transform our ways of thinking and urge us to reflect on our role in society. From our Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning productions to our community-based education programs, we are committed to uncovering and celebrating the stories of our varied human existence. Founded as an ensemble of impassioned artists in 1985, Atlantic Theater Company has grown into a powerhouse Off-Broadway company. We challenge, inspire, and awaken audiences with truthful storytelling presented across our two venues, the Linda Gross Theater and the intimate Stage 2 black-box. As a producer of compelling new works, we are committed to championing the stories from new and established artists alike, amplifying the voices of emerging playwrights through our deeply collaborative programs and initiatives. We have produced more than 200 plays and musicals including Tony Award-winning productions of The Band's Visit (David Yazbek, Itamar Moses); Spring Awakening (Steven Sater, Duncan Sheik); and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Martin McDonagh); Pulitzer Prize recipient Between Riverside and Crazy (Stephen Adly Guirgis); New York Drama Critics' Circle winners for Best New Play The Night Alive (Conor McPherson) and Best Foreign Play Hangmen (Martin McDonagh); Obie Award winners for Best New American Play Guards at the Taj and Describe the Night (Rajiv Joseph); and Obie Award Special Citation recipient Skeleton Crew (Dominique Morisseau).

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