Ensemble Studio Theatre Unveils Exciting Lineup for the 2023-24 Season

Ensemble Studio Theatre has revealed its 2023-24 Season at its long-time home on West 52nd Street, including two new plays, REDWOOD by Youngblood alum Brittany K. Allen (who will also appear in the production) and LAS BORINQUEÑAS by Nelson Diaz-Marcano which is being presented by the EST/Sloan Project in collaboration with the Latinx Playwrights Circle. Now in its 55th year, EST has developed thousands of new American plays and has grown into a company of over 600 actors, directors, playwrights, designers, and stage managers.

The 2023-24 season will include an abundance of new play development through ongoing programs.  This season marks the 30th Anniversary of Youngblood, EST’s award-winning emerging playwrights collective.  This fall, Youngblood will welcome new members and begin a new season of its popular Sunday Brunch Series, which offers a set of new short plays by the group’s writers served with brunch on select Sundays throughout the year. The EST/Sloan Project, a long-standing partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will continue to support the development of plays about science and technology with its annual First Light Festival, and will award a new round of Sloan Commissions, to be announced this fall.  In addition, EST supports its Member Artists through internal developmental programs, offering space for creative exploration. 

“It's a real thrill to put our first season together into motion with a lineup that represents to us what’s at the heart of EST: a mix of longtime community members and new collaborators, work-in-development from first page to full production, and stories that are as electrifying in content as they are in form,” said Co-Artistic Directors Estefanía Fadul and Graeme Gillis. “We are so grateful to have with us the singular talents of Brittany, Mikhaela, Nelson, Rebecca, and the hundreds of EST members and guest artists as we take EST's first steps into its future.”

EST’s 55th season will open in October with the New York premiere of REDWOOD by Brittany K. Allen and directed by EST Member Artist Mikhaela Mahony. Previews will begin October 18 and run through November 12, with a press opening on October 26. REDWOOD was originally slated for April of 2020 and was delayed because of Covid.  Playwright Brittany K. Allen will also be starring in her play, which she developed while a member of Youngblood. 

When Steve Durbin goes down the rabbit hole of charting his family's genealogy, he makes an unwelcome discovery that throws the entire Durbin clan into turmoil. Chiefly: his niece, Meg, who's forced to reconsider her relationship with Drew, a white physicist. With acid wit, love, and dance, REDWOOD ponders the project of interracial family-making in a haunted country.

The Spring Mainstage Production will be the world premiere of LAS BORINQUEÑAS by Nelson Diaz-Marcano and directed by Rebecca Aparicio, running in April 2024. The world premiere is presented by the EST/Sloan Project in collaboration with the Latinx Playwrights Circle.

It’s the 1950's in Puerto Rico and Maria, Fernanda, Yolanda, Rosa, and Chavela are fighting to live full lives in a changing country with crushing societal rules for women. In the United States, Dr. Gregory Pincus is on the verge of perfecting a miracle that could give them freedom - if only he could find test subjects to participate in preliminary trials. This is the story of the birth control pill and the women who risked everything for the chance to live free.

ARTISTIC BIOS:
 

Brittany K. Allen

(Playwright, Redwood) is a Brooklyn-based actor/writer. Recent acting credits include Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb, Summerworks), The Good John Proctor (Bedlam), and the world premiere of Redwood at Portland Center Stage. Her plays have been staged and developed at Manhattan Theater Club, Jungle Theater, Primary Stages, Clubbed Thumb, Studio Theatre, and KC Rep, among other places, and she currently holds commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Portland Center Stage, and Clubbed Thumb. She's an alumna of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public, and EST/Youngblood. Recognitions include the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, the Dramatists Guild Foundation Comedic Playwriting Prize, and a Van Lier New Voices Playwriting Fellowship. Her writing has been supported by a MacDowell residency, and scholarships to Bread Loaf and the Sewanee Writers Conference, where she now teaches on faculty. 

Mikhaela Mahony (Director, Redwood) is a Brooklyn-based director of theatre, opera, and film. She has developed work with New York City Opera, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Syndicate, City Lyric Opera, The Lobbyists, The Juilliard School, the Chautauqua Institution, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Bard College, and Columbia University. She is a frequent collaborator with the Obie-Award winning EST/Youngblood, directing Abby Rosebrock’s Dido of Idaho and the upcoming production of Brittany Allen’s Redwood. Summer, Mikhaela’s debut as a film director, was an official selection at the Buffalo International Film Festival, Flathead Lake International Cinemafest, and FilmColumbia in Chatham, NY. Selected theatre and opera directing credits include: Anne Carson’s translation of Hippolytos by Euripides (Bard College), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Mason Gross School of the Arts), Miss Mitchell by The Lobbyists (Little Island), Dear Erich by Ted Rosenthal (New York City Opera), Menotti’s The Medium (City Lyric Opera), Tiny Errors at the End of the Millennium by Alanna Coby (The Syndicate), Verdi’s Rigoletto (Chautauqua Institution), and a multilingual version of The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (Manhattan School of Music). Recent Assistant/Associate Director credits include: Oklahoma! (dir. Daniel Fish, Off-Broadway, Broadway, West-End, US National Tour), Le Roi Arthus (dir. Louisa Proske, Bard Summerscape), Bluebeard’s Castle (dir. Anne Bogart, Boston Lyric Opera), Faust (dir. Lileana Blain-Cruz, Detroit Opera). Mikhaela is the newly appointed Director of Opera at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, and serves on the faculty of Mannes School of Music at The New School. Mikhaela is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre and volunteer artist with The 52nd Street Project.

NELSON DIAZ-MARCANO

(Playwright, Las Borinqueñas) is a Puerto Rican NYC-based theater maker, advocate, and community leader whose mission is to create work that challenges and builds community. He currently serves as the Literary Director for the Latinx Playwright Circle where he has helped develop over 100 plays in the past three years. His plays have been developed by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Road Theatre Company, Pipeline Theatre Company, Clubbed Thumb, The Lark, Vision Latino Theater Company, The Orchard Project, The William Inge Theatre Festival, Classical Theatre of Harlem, and The Parsnip Ship among others. Recent credits include: World Classic(Bishop Theatre Arts Center), Y Tu Abuela, Where is She? Part 1 (CLATA), When the Earth Moves, We Dance (Clubbed Thumb, Teatro Vivo), The Diplomats (Random Acts Chicago), Paper Towels (INTAR), Misfit, America(Hunter Theatre Company), I Saw Jesus in Toa Baja (Conch Shell Productions), and Revolt! (Vision Latino Theatre Company).

Rebecca Aparicio 

(Director, Las Borinqueñas) is a Cuban American, New York-based, bilingual director and writer. Recent directing: Jardin Salvaje by Karen Zacarias (GALA Hispanic Theatre, Helen Hayes recommended), Beastgirl, based on the chapbook by Elizabeth Acevedo, book by C. Quintana and music by Janelle Lawrence (Kennedy Center, Helen Hayes nominated); The House on the Lagoon by Caridad Svich (Gala Hispanic Theatre, Winner Best Direction Broadway World-DC), Sarita by Maria Irene Fornes (Roundabout Theatre Refocus Series), and Siluetas, book by Erlina Ortiz and music by Robi Hager (Powerstreet Theatre Company). As a director, she’s developed new work with American Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, O'Neill Theatre Center, Playwrights Center, Powerstreet Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Musical Theatre Factory, The Flea Theatre, Classical Theatre of Harlem, National Black Theatre, and more. Past Fellowships include: Roundabout Theatre’s Inaugural Directing Group, MTC Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow, The COOP’s Clusterf**k Writing Cohort, and a two-time SDCF Observership Award recipient. As a writer, her work includes the award-winning musical Pedro Pan (New York Musical Festival, Musical Theatre Factory, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, FringeNYC), Tree Tales (Prospect Theatre), Hindsight 2020 (Live & In Color, Legacy (Prospect Theatre), and The Garcia Sisters (Red Mountain Theatre. Rebecca is a CRNY artist-in-residence with the Latinx Playwrights Circle, a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons, and is a founding member of Magic Forest Theatre (dedicated to creating new musicals for young audiences). She also serves as a board member at The Flea and Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. 

ONGOING EST PROGRAMS:

THE EST/SLOAN PROJECT 

(Linsay Firman, Program Director), a pioneering collaboration between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling new theatrical works that explore the worlds of science, technology, and economics and to challenge existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in popular culture. Since its inception in 1998, the EST/Sloan Project has commissioned, developed, and produced over 300 staged plays involving over 1,000 playwrights, actors, choreographers, composers, and theatre companies nationwide. Recent notable plays include Smart by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, what you are now by Sam Chanse, Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson, Isaac's Eye by Lucas Hnath, Fast Company by Carla Ching, and Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler. 

YOUNGBLOOD

(RJ Tolan, Program Director) is EST’s Obie Award-winning, Drama Desk-cited collective of emerging professional playwrights. For three decades, Youngblood has provided dedicated time, attention, and support to its members, allowing them to hone their skills and voice as a writer. The collective currently serves 30 members and boasts 125 alumni who have gone on to fruitful writing careers, and have been honored with Pulitzer Prizes, Obie Awards, MacArthur Fellowships, Tony Award nominations, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and Drama Desk Awards, and Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations. 2023 in particular saw notable accomplishments from Youngblood playwrights, including a Pulitzer Prize for Sanaz Toosi’s English, a Pulitzer nomination for Lloyd Suh’s The Far Country;  a Tony nomination for Martyna Majok’s The Cost of Living, and Emmy nominations for Will Arbery (Succession), Dylan Guerra (The Other Two), Sofya Levitzsky-Weitz (The Bear), and Stacy Osei-Kuffour (The Bear). 

INSTITUTIONAL BIOS:

THE LATINX PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE

(LPC) is an artist-led development and production organization for Latinx(é) playwrights. Founded in 2018 by playwrights Guadalís Del Carmen and Oscar Cabrera with the mission to build a network of Latinx(é) and Caribbean playwrights nationwide in order to promote, develop and elevate their work while making their plays accessible to theater makers looking to find the next generation of American Storytellers. Its programs include Sunday Service, Fresh Draft Series, Greater Good Commission and Festival, Intensive Mentorship Program, LPC Community Nights, LPC Summer Jam and Page-to-Stage, whose inaugural production was Sancocho by Christin Eve Cato. Las Borinqueñas will be our second Page-to-Stage production. In 2020, LPC received a residency at Kabayitos Theater, located in the Clemente Soto Velez Center where it produces a portion of their programming. In 2022, LPC was awarded a Creatives Rebuild New York Grant (CRNY) as well as the HOLA Award for Excellence in Theater.  For more information on Latinx Playwright Circle and its many programs, please visit http://www.latinxplaywrights.com LPC embraces the ever evolving landscape of Latinidad and the names used to describe this community, including Latiné, Latinx, Hispanic, and the next generation of names to come. Like language itself, this is an ever-evolving name. 

THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION

is a New York–based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities.

The Foundation has an active theater program and commissions about 20 science plays each year from the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and The National Theatre in London, while supporting select productions across the country and abroad. The Foundation’s pioneering theater program began with a 1997 grant to Ensemble Studio Theatre for Arthur Giron’s play about the Wright Brothers, Flight, and has helped usher in the science play as a regular part of the theater canon, making Sloan a coveted commission for any playwright engaging with a science and technology theme or character. Beginning with such renowned science plays as David Auburn’s Proof, Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen, and Alan Alda’s QED, recent grants from Sloan’s Theater Program have supported Mary Elizabeth Hamilton's Smart, Mark Rylance’s Dr. Semmelweis, Anchuli Felicia King’s Golden Shield, Sam Chanse’s what you are now, Charly Evon Simpson’s Behind the Sheet, Lucy Kirkwood’s Mosquitoes, Chiara Atik’s Bump, Nick Payne’s Constellations, Lucas Hnath’s Isaac’s Eye, Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51, Leigh Fondakowski’s Spill, and  Bess Wohl’s Continuity. The Foundation has also supported a 32-play radio series through L.A. Theatre Works. For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, please visit www.sloan.org or follow the Foundation at @SloanPublic on Twitter and Facebook.

Ensemble Studio Theatre 

(Estefanía Fadul and Graeme Gillis, Co-Artistic Directors), is a Hell’s Kitchen-based, Off-Broadway theatre focused on the development of new work and voices since its founding by Curt Dempster in 1968.  In those 55 years, EST has developed thousands of new American plays and has grown into a company of over 600 actors, directors, playwrights, designers, and stage managers. EST's mission is to develop and produce original, provocative, and authentic new work. A dynamic community committed to a collaborative process, EST is dedicated to inclusion across all aspects of identity and perspective, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexuality, physical or mental ability, physical or mental health, and recovery, while acknowledging and working to end systemic marginalization and oppression at all levels of its organization. EST discovers and nurtures new voices and supports artists throughout their creative lives. This extraordinary support and commitment to inclusivity are essential to yield extraordinary work. 

EST’s primary programs include Youngblood, a collective of emerging professional playwrights; the EST/Sloan Project, a partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that commissions, develops, and produces new works about science and technology; and the biennial Marathon of One-Act Plays, a landmark New York theatre festival since 1977. 

Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is located at 545 West 52nd Street. For more information, visit www.estnyc.org.