National New Play Network Announces Collaboration Grant Recipients and Producers in Residence

National New Play Network has announced awardees for two of its anchor programs: Producers in Residence and the Collaboration Fund.

NNPN Executive Director Nan Barnett said, "Even in this time of terrible struggle for theater and the arts, resilience and ingenuity are alive and well in the Network, as evidenced by the projects brought forth for Collaboration Fund support. And the eleven Producers who have chosen to spend this season, when most will not be producing in the traditional sense of the word, with our Member Theaters are already enriching not only the organizations where they are in residence but the larger artistic community and the Network as a whole."

Six theater-makers have begun their first year as Producers in Residence across the United States: Amanda Washington at Actor's Express (Atlanta), Karina Fox at Magic Theater (San Francisco), Monteze Freeland at City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh), Nichole Palmietto at Horizon Theatre Company (Atlanta), Nick Bublitz with Orlando Shakes, and Rebecca Myers at San Diego Repertory Theatre.

Additionally, thanks in part to support from a CARES grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, NNPN was able to offer second-year extensions to all of last year's first-year Producers. Haley Nelson (Kitchen Dog Theater - Dallas), Jacqueline Flores (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company - Washington, D.C.) Jasmine Brooks (Company One Theatre - Boston), Joseph Biagini (Perseverance Theatre - Anchorage/Juneau), and Tara Branham (Prop Thtr - Chicago) have already made indelible marks on their institutions. NNPN is grateful to have them with us for another year and eager to see what comes next for them.

The Collaboration Fund was established in an effort to encourage innovative, pioneering, project-based partnerships among theaters in support of playwrights and new plays. Monies are awarded annually on a competitive basis to projects proposed by National New Play Network Core Members, working together with other Member Theaters and playwrights on the development or production of a new work or works. This year, NNPN will support five new collaborative projects.

InterAct Theatre Company and The VORTEX will collaborate on two virtual workshops in support of the development of Reina Hardy's Sunny Days, which follows a fictionalized version of "Sesame Street" called "ABC City" through three points in time: 2004 Kosovo, a current-day Immigrant Detention Center outside of Austin, TX, and the future envisioned just inland of a submerged Philadelphia.

Magic Theatre, Crowded Fire Theatre, and Playwrights Foundation will collaborate on an anti-racist trainer training to empower a group of 12 local artists and theater administrators to lead the Bay Area theatre community creating in deep and lasting change toward greater equity.

Milagro will present the 2020 digital edition of INGENIO Milagro, a play and playwright development program for Latinx playwrights, in association with Teatros Unidos, an emerging and growing collective of Latinx theatre organizations that also includes: Baktun12, Borderlands Theater, Cara Mia Theatre Co., In the Margin Theatre, Teatro Alebrijes, Teatro Bravo, Teatro Luna West, Teatro Nagual, Teatro Visión, TuYo Theatre, and UrbanTheater Company. Featured playwrights include: Bernardo Cubrîa, Christin Eve Cato, Mateo Hernandez, AnaSofîa Villanueva, Matt Barbot, and Jasminne Mendez.

Prop Thtr and midNites cHiLd Productions, a project of Riti Sachdeva, in collaboration with other POC producing individuals and institutions, will present the POC Producers Panel and Masterclass Series, consisting of 2 Panels and 3 Masterclasses designed to feature producers of color to share experience and expertise as a point of entry to build producing capacity among theater artists of color.

San Diego Repertory Theatre, Theater Alliance, and The Black Rep in St. Louis will collaborate to support the development of Idris Goodwin and K. Quinn Marchman's new online/interactive play, Beyond the Crossroads.

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