Dillon Chitto Named Four Directions Playwright Residency 2026-2027 Recipient
The Native and Indigenous playwrights program concludes with a staged public reading at KCRep.
Kansas City Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Stuart Carden and fellow partners with Four Directions Playwright Residency for Native and Indigenous Playwrights Liz Engelman, executive director of Tofte Lake Center, Carolyn Sickles, executive and artistic director of Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and Kevin Lawler, artistic director of Great Plains Theatre Commons has announced that Dillon Chitto has been selected as the recipient of the 2026-2027 Four Directions Playwright Residency.
Carden shared, “The Four Directions Residency reflects KCRep's commitment to uplifting Native playwrights and expanding the American canon. Dillon Chitto's writing—marked by humor, lyricism, and a contemporary lens on Native life and identity—brings a vital, imaginative voice to the field, and we are honored to support his work through this residency."
ABOUT THE FOUR DIRECTIONS PLAYWRIGHT RESIDENCY
The Four Directions Playwright Residency is a multi-site initiative in collaboration with Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Tofte Lake Center, Great Plains Theatre Commons, and KCRep to champion Native and Indigenous playwrights. Rooted in the belief that story-making is both an artistic craft and a community act, the program spans roughly a year, offering the selected playwright four distinct one-week residencies—one at each partner institution—and culminates in a public reading/workshop at KCRep.
The playwright is selected by Native playwright, Mary Kathryn Nagle, and alumni of the Four Directions program. Playwrights who have advanced beyond the beginning stage of their career are considered for the residency. This is the fourth year of the residency program. Previous recipients include Madeline Easley, Drew Woodson, and Tomi Endter.
DILLON CHRISTOPHER CHITTO is a Mississippi Choctaw, Laguna, and Isleta Pueblo playwright originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Recently he has worked with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Perseverance Theatre, Santa Fe Playhouse, Ground Floor Theatre, Native Voices at the Autry, AlterTheater Ensemble, and No Peeking Theatre. @dchitto
A completed script is not required by the end of the residency, but playwrights commit to working on material that will have a public reading at KCRep as the final phase of the residency. Playwrights also commit to attending all four weeks of the residency.
The residency timeline is structured to interweave creative incubation and community engagement. In the first three quarters, the writer spends one week in residence at Great Plains Theatre Commons, ten days at Tofte Lake Center (in Minnesota), and one week at Tulsa Artist Fellowship. During each of these site-specific residencies, the playwright is immersed in the local landscape, with opportunities to engage with the local indigenous communities, hold informal sharings, and build early drafts with dramaturgical support. After completing these residencies, the final phase takes place in Kansas City with KCRep: the playwright participates in a one-week workshop and reading in Kansas City in the summer following the three residencies. This timeline allows the playwright additional time to write and develop their work-in-process for a workshop in June 2027.
The fourth and final week at KCRep is designed as a developmental moment: the writer's work is staged in a reading format for an invited audience, including community partners, Indigenous elders and cultural leaders, dramaturgs, KCRep artistic team, and representatives from all residency partners, giving the playwright a chance to test work in the room, deepen relationships with KC and regional Native artists, and prepare for next-stage life of the play.
Dates of residency are currently scheduled for:
- Great Plains Theatre Commons May 23 - 31, 2026
- Tofte Lake June 14-24, 2026
- Tulsa Artist Fellowship September, 2026
- Kansas City Repertory Theatre June, 2027
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