Dramatists Guild Foundation To Present Work Of 2022-2023 Playwriting Fellows

The Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) will present selections of work by the 2022-2023 Class of Playwriting Fellows on Monday, November 20, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street), beginning at 7:00pm. The DGF Fellows program propels the most promising creative talents to their full potential to help shape the future of theater. 

The year-long intensive serves New York City-based, emerging dramatists who are looking to develop existing work in the next level of their careers. This cohort of dramatists work together under the guidance and leadership of professional playwrights to develop current work in pursuit of commercial development and production. The Fellows and their work were developed under the tutelage of Playwriting Chairs Nikkole Salter (In the Continuum, Lines in the Dust) and José Rivera (Marisol, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot). Candis C. Jones (Cullad Wattah, Shadow/Land) will direct the presentations. 

The 2022-2023 Playwriting Fellows, and their work that will be presented, are as follows:

Aaron Coleman

TELL ME I'M GORGEOUS AT THE END OF THE WORLD: THE LAST GAY PLAY

The party rages on in a fierce Fire Island home, and nothing can stop it. Not even two unexpected houseguests, who set off a reckoning of apocalyptic proportions. TELL ME I'M GORGEOUS AT THE END OF THE WORLD blows up the tropes of the gay party play—and shakes up theatrical genres quicker than a cosmo laced with poppers—to tell the tale of a Black gay man and an Asian-American gay man seeking a place in the mainstream gay community. But the world has other plans.

SMJ

 

RACCOON PLAY

Six young, queer conservatives run the Danville, OH Lions Club, and every year, they host the Danville Lions Club Raccoon Dinner, the largest fundraiser in the town. It's 2022 and the 79th Annual Raccoon Dinner is on the chopping block due to a missing member and a lack of funds. Meanwhile, the Danville Raccoon Club is facing an uproar following some dubious election results before The Great Dinner. However, when a gun, an ominous QAnon drop, and a raccoon insurrection come into focus, no one is sure who is on their side. Untitled Raccoon Play is a political satire about conspiracy theories, gun violence, small-town conservatism, whiteness, the right's response to COVID & the 2020 election, capitalism, pro-life hypocrises, and safe space language.

Matthew Libby

 

SISTERS

Told over the course of 90 years, this is the story of Matilda and Greta, a pair of sisters, growing up, learning from each other, dealing with responsibility and loss, fighting viciously, drifting apart, and eventually coming back together. They're just like any other sisters. Oh, except Greta is an artificially intelligent computer program. But other than that...

Zizi Majid

 

THEY CAME IN THE NIGHT

After the sudden death of her mother, Zsa Zsa receives a visitor from Baghdad: an aunt, who served as an interpreter for the U.S. military and has finally been allowed to immigrate to the U.S. They Came in the Night is a distinctive play about a family sifting through the debris of America's fraught War in Iraq.

Gloria Oladipo

 

THE CARE AND KEEPING OF SCHIZOPHRENIA AND OTHER DEMONS

Charity's plans to move to California with her girlfriend, Dani, are put on hold when her mother breaks her hip trying to manage her brother through yet another mental health crisis. Determined to finally get her brother the support he needs, Charity moves back to her family home only to find her best efforts thwarted by a surreal mental health system; her mother's insistence that everything is okay; and an obnoxious, aptly named, and increasingly impossible to manage Sleep Demon. The absurdist, humorist romp The Care and Keeping of Schizophrenia (and Other Demons) asks, can Charity take control of the pressures bearing down on her or will a desperate attempt to get her family “well” tear her life apart?

The evening is free and open to the public through reservation by e-mailing programs@dgf.org.  

DGF Fellows is supported through the generosity of the Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation.

Fellows receive a $5,000 stipend, access to career resources, as well as the opportunity to partner with several arts organizations. At the end of the program, each Fellow has an opportunity to participate in a presentation of their work for top theater professionals. The Fellows program is highly sought after for its uniquely successful format of partnering playwrights and musical theater writers together in the learning process, who come together bringing a variety of backgrounds, identities, styles and experiences to the program. 

This year's mentors include acclaimed playwrights Doug Wright, Kia Corthron, Rajiv Joseph, Jiehae Park, and Sarah Ruhl.

The Fellows program was founded in 2000 by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Janet Neipris, and Arthur Kopit, eventually joined by Susan Miller. They believed it was vital to put playwrights and musical theater writers in the same room, to learn from each other's different perspectives, to see how collaboration creates magic, and to foster community. The success of the program has been proven by the careers of various dramatists and collaborations, including launching the careers of more than 200 writers. With alumni that include Pulitzer finalists, Tony nominees, and recipients of Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Larson Awards, Kleban Awards, and Fred Ebb Awards, the DGF Fellows program is an opportunity to grow in community and professionally.

Former Fellows include Michael R. Jackson (Pulitzer Prize Winner, A Strange Loop), Antoinette Nwandu (Pass Over), Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band), Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Academy Award winner, Frozen), Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), and Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (Tony winners for Best Score, Dear Evan Hansen). 

DGF Fellows is supported through the generosity of the Seller-Lehrer Family Foundation.

For more information about the DGF Fellows program and how to support dramatists throughout their careers, visit https://dgf.org. 

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