Lortel Theatre Announces Recipients of 5th Annual NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship

The Lucille Lortel Theatre is pleased to announce the recipients of the 5th Annual NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship, created as an opportunity for aspiring young writers citywide to get unparalleled access to professional theater artists for mentoring. The Fellows represent each of the five New York City boroughs, as well as D79 schools. Aspiring playwrights were asked to submit an artistic statement along with a creative writing sample that was judged by a panel of playwrights and directors including Preston Burger, Gethsemane Herron-Coward, Eugene Ma, Cherry Lou Sy, and Gabriel Vega Weissman.

The 2024 Fellows are: 

Kelsey Cruz from Belmont Preparatory High School in the Bronx
Kenny Iñiguez from Manhattan Bridges High School in Manhattan
Jordan Jenkins from Brooklyn High School of the Arts in Brooklyn
Yan Bo Lin from Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School in Queens
Autumn Phillips from Curtis High School in Staten Island
Vanessa Wu from Pathways to Graduation in Brooklyn D79

Beginning on January 18, the fellows participated in eight workshop sessions led by performer, creator, and arts leader Nilan who served as their mentor. Together, they discussed how to structure and write a play in addition to learning more about playwriting as a career. Fellows then worked directly with director Kimille Howard (Assistant Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera, founder of the Black Diaspora Theater Collective, co-founder of the Black Classical Music Archive), to learn what the role of a director is and how they collaborate with a playwright to create a theater work.

All six plays will be presented in a special invitation-only, live performance on March 25 at Rattlestick Theater, located at 224 Waverly Pl in Manhattan, with Kimille Howard directing all works. In addition to the unique opportunity to see their plays brought to life, a collection of the Fellows' plays will be published by the Lucille Lortel Theatre and distributed to the student playwrights. Each fellow also receives a $500 honorarium for participating in the program.  

“Now in our fifth year, we were so pleased with the response to the changes we made, creating more access to the program. It's more important than ever to encourage young artists to share their voices and part of the mission of the Lucille Lortel Theatre is to foster, support, and promote new and diverse theater voices,” said George Forbes, Executive Director of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. “We are also extremely grateful to Peter Avery and the NYC Department of Education for all their assistance.”

“One of the foundational goals of any educational initiative is to foster student voice and the chance to share points of view. I am so appreciative of The Lucille Lortel Theatre's Playwriting Fellowship which encourages NYC public school teens to consider the world around them, to express their unique insights creatively through original plays. Beyond the stories we share, we need to continue focusing on whose stories are heard, or not yet heard, in order to truly come together as a society. How inspiring for these diverse young artists to have theater professionals see them, hear them and bring them from page to stage by a professional team of actors and directors," remarked Peter Avery, Director of Theater for the NYC Department of Education.

The Lucille Lortel Theatre, in collaboration with the Department of Education Arts Office Theater Program, created the NYC Public High School Student Playwriting Fellowship as an opportunity for young writers citywide to get unparalleled access to NYC professional artists for mentoring. Funded entirely by the Lucille Lortel Theatre, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, this innovative theater education program sends a high-profile message of inclusivity and artistry to both the educational and professional worlds. The program engages public school students of all levels of ability who devise an original one-act play. Master theater artists from across the professional theatre community and who represent the diverse continuum of the participating students will participate in the program, mentoring and directing the students to create fully realized plays based on their collective experiences and imagination. The free program provides approximately two months for students to write their plays, with the program culminating in a performance. The opportunities provided by this program encourage NYC public high school students to become the next generation of playwrights.

Please visit https://lortel.org/hspf/ to learn more about the program.

About Kimille Howard

Kimille Howard is a director, deviser, writer and filmmaker. She's an Assistant Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera, Artistic Director of the Lucille Lortel Theatre's NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship, and a founder of the Black Diaspora Theatre Collective. Recent directing credits: The 2024 New Works Collective (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Sanctuary Road (Virginia Opera), The Oscar Micheaux Project (NAMT Fest), Treemonisha (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson (Glimmerglass/Washington National Opera, Opera Carolina), Songs in Flight (Sparks and Wiry Cries/Met Live), The Italian Girl (Tulsa Opera), American Apollo (DMMO), B.R.O.K.E.N Code B.I.R.D Switching (Berkshire Theatre Group), Quamino's Map (Chicago Opera Theater). Her work has also been seen at Playwrights' Horizons, 59E59, Wolf Trap Opera, Cherry Lane Theatre, among others. Broadway: Ain't Too Proud (Assistant Director) Met Opera: Champion, Die Zauberflöte, Porgy And Bess, Tosca (Assistant Stage Director). Recent Fellowships: NYTW 2050 Fellowship, MTC Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship, New York Stage and Film's inaugural NYSAF NEXUS project. She is a recipient of OPERA America's 2023 Robert L. B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. www.kimillehoward.com

About Nilan

Nilan (he/him+) is the Associate Artistic Director of The Drama League of New York and a founder of the award-winning production company A Certain Something. He has been in over 35 theatrical, film, and television projects nationally and internationally. He is the co-host of the podcast TA(L)KING DIRECTION. His plays include Endangered Species, FOLKtales, Blood Promises, We Like To Party, The Rainbow Plays (a cycle of plays that chronicle queer life across the U.S. post-AIDS epidemic), and others. Recently, Nilan has helped co-facilitate and curate the first major International Directors Summit post-pandemic, gathering nine countries together to talk art policy and cultural affairs. His tv show RENAISSANCE will be coming to a screen near you. Check out my website for more information. nilan.me | acertainsomething.org

About the New York City Department of Education

The NYC Department of Education is the largest system of public schools in the United States, serving about 1.1 million students in approximately 1,800 schools. The Department of Education supports universal access to arts education through the ArtsCount initiative, which tracks and reports student participation in arts education and tracks progress at the school and city-wide levels for meeting New York State Instructional Requirements for the Arts.  For more information, visit NYC DOE Office of Arts and Special Projects. 

About Lucille Lortel Theatre

Lucille Lortel Theatre's mission is to foster both new and established artists, increase awareness and appreciation of Off-Broadway, and uphold fair and equitable business and artistic practices in service of creating a larger, more diverse community of theatre makers and audiences. The Company builds on the legacy of its founder, Lucille Lortel (1900–1999), who was a champion of work by Samuel Beckett, Caryl Churchill, Athol Fugard, Jean Genet, Adrienne Kennedy, Larry Kramer, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Sam Shepard, and Wendy Wasserstein. In addition to its Off Broadway theatre, which has been in continuous operation since 1955, the Company is renovating a three-story carriage house in Chelsea that will act as the Company's new headquarters. Its programs include The Alcove at the Lortel, a commissioning and development program for early and mid-career playwrights; the 121 Project, a bespoke development program for new musicals; NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship, Fellowships in NYC Theatre at Bennington College, Lucille Lortel Awards and Playwrights' Sidewalk, Internet Off-Broadway Database (IOBDB.com), and Non-Profit Theatre Strategic and Management Services. www.lortel.org.

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