Tennessee Rep's Ingram New Works Festival Concludes 5/8

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has announced its schedule for the Martha R. Ingram New Works Festival. The festival will be held April 28 - May 8 at Nashville Children's Theatre and will feature staged readings of new plays from seven local playwrights as well as Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Auburn. Auburn 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) and Victoria Stewart (Rich Girl).

Currently in its third year, the program has evolved to include a New Works Lab for seven local playwrights who are being mentored by David Auburn. 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 David Auburn 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 Claudia Barnett, Ross Brooks, Matthew Carlton, Diane Di Ianni, Nate Eppler, McAdoo Greer, and Valerie S. Hart.

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 David Auburn'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."

"I'm thrilled to be coming to Tennessee Rep," says Auburn. "Programs like the Ingram New Works Lab and Festival are the bone marrow of American Theatre: they're where the new life, the new energy, the new ideas come from. I'm deeply excited to play a role in that process, and to work with and get to know a new and talented group of writers. Not to mention to return to a part of the country I love, and miss; I spent my high school years in Arkansas."

Auburn's plays include Proof (2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play), An Upset, The Journals of Mihail Sebastian, and Skyscraper. His film The Girl in the Park, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2007. Other film credits include the The Lake House (2005).

"It has been such a pleasure to have David Auburn as our New Works Fellow this year," says Tennessee Rep Producing Artistic Director René D. Copeland. "He is clearly committed to contributing to efforts to foster new work, and his mentoring for our seven local playwright members of the New Works Lab has been so generous and beneficial to their work. They have all been thrilled to have his thoughtful and insightful feedback on their own plays, and of course we are very excited to get to present the play he's writing now for our New Works Festival in May.

"Having someone of his stature participate has been good for bringing attention to Tennessee Rep's efforts on behalf of new work for the theatre. It's a hard time, economically and otherwise, for many theatre companies to include new work support in their programming, so David's acceptance of the fellowship with us this year has made a great contribution to our ability to continue our efforts."

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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