Tennesee Rep Announces Schedule for New Works Festival June 1-11

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has announced its schedule for the Martha R. Ingram New Works Festival. The festival will be held June 1 - 11 at Vanderbilt University's Neely Auditorium and will feature staged readings of new plays from seven local playwrights as well as Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner John Patrick Shanley. Shanley is this year's recipient of the Ingram New Works Fellowship.

The Martha R. Ingram New Works Fellowship was created by Tennessee Rep co-founder Martha R. Ingram to provide an opportunity for theatre artists to develop new theatre works while in residency with Tennessee Rep. Past recipients include David Alford (Clara's Hands), Victoria Stewart (Rich Girl), and Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Auburn (The Columnist), which will make its Broadway premiere in January 2012.

Currently in its fourth year, the program has evolved to include a New Works Lab for seven local playwrights who are being mentored by Shanley. The Lab offers these playwrights the opportunity to not only receive feedback but also hear their works read by professional actors during the writing process.

"The Ingram Charitable Fund is thrilled to make this opportunity available in support of new works for the theatre," says Ingram. "New work is the life force of every art form. We have no better example than William Shakespeare who, after all, created nothing but new work. And the same can be said for Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and the list goes on.

"As Tennessee Repertory Theatre continues to be a leading regional theatre, it is thrilling to see the company collaborate with nationally-recognized playwrights such as John Patrick Shanley as well as foster the development of local playwrights through the New Works Lab that culminates with the New Works Festival. I am confident that this collaboration will not only have positive contributions to the Nashville theatre community, but also the American theatre landscape as a whole."

The seven local playwrights-in-residence include Nate Eppler, Heidi Ervin, Joe Giordano, Shawn Knight, May McCallum, Christine Mather, and Lisa Soland.

Lab participant Nate Eppler says, "The development of new plays is literally the lifeblood of theatre as a whole; to have the opportunity to develop new work with the guidance of a playwright of John Patrick Shanley's caliber is rare and wonderful, to then be able to see the voices of Nashville theatre elevated into the National Theatre conversation would be extraordinary."

Shanley's plays include Doubt (2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play), Defiance, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, Beggars in the House of Plenty, and Sailor's Song. He won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Moonstruck and also wrote and directed the film adaptation of Doubt which featured Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

"I could not be more excited to welcome John Patrick Shanley as Tennessee Rep's Ingram New Works Fellow," says Tennessee Rep Producing Artistic Director René D. Copeland. "Directing Doubt was a professional highlight for me, so the prospect of getting to direct the staged reading of his new play that will debut at the Festival in June thrills me beyond words. But I am equally thrilled to have Shanley mentoring the members of the playwrighting Lab. What a privilege for our local playwrights to get to work with someone of his talent and reputation! To have Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winners in back-to-back years speaks volumes to the vibrancy of our New Works Program, and I am elated that Tennessee Rep is in a position to share these new plays with Nashville and contribute in such a positive way to theatre on a regional and national level."

Since 1985, Tennessee Repertory Theatre has been a critically acclaimed regional theatre, creating the highest quality professional productions and by serving as a prime cultural, educational, and economic resource within the Nashville and Middle Tennessee communities. Tennessee Rep produces work that is designed, built, and rehearsed in Nashville by highly skilled actors, designers, directors, and technicians. A non-profit organization, Tennessee Rep is committed to consistently delivering thought-provoking theatre each year. For more information on the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, please visit www.tennesseerep.org.

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