Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Announce 2020 Artist Cultivation Panel

Ensemble Studio Theatre along with The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced today the 2020 Fall Artist Cultivation Event for the EST/Sloan Project. This year's event will take place virtually, over Zoom, on Monday November 30 at 7PM EST.

The event is free, and any playwright interested in developing a play about science or technology is encouraged to attend to hear a far-ranging discussion about science, storytelling and what makes plays work. Moderated by Naomi Lorrain (Behind the Sheet, "Orange Is the New Black"), the panel will feature Jad Abumrad (Producer and host of "Radiolab"), Carla Ching (Playwright, Fast Company), Danielle N. Lee (Assistant Professor of Biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville), Brian Nord (Associate Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) and Charly Evon Simpson (Playwright, Behind the Sheet).

EST is now accepting proposals for this year's EST/Sloan Project commissions. Those who attend the cultivation event will have an extended deadline of January 1, 2021. Guidelines are available here.

Advance registration is required and can be made at estnyc.org/cultivation.

Started in 1998, the EST/Sloan Project is an initiative designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.

Previous mainstage productions have included Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson (2019) on J. Marion Sims's experiments on enslaved, pregnant Black women; Bump by Chiara Atik (2018) on pregnancy and childbirth; Spill (2017) by Leigh Fondakowski on the Deepwater Horizon disaster; Boy (2016) by Anna Ziegler on sexual identity; Please Continue (2016) by Frank Basloe on Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments; Informed Consent (2015) by Deborah Zoe Laufer on scientific research and Alzheimer's; Fast Company (2014) by Carla Ching on game theory and confidence games; Isaac's Eye (2013) by Lucas Hnath on scientific method and rivalry; and Headstrong (2012) by Patrick Link on sports and concussions.