National Alliance for Musical Theatre Announces 2020-2021 Frank Young Fund for New Musicals Grant Recipients

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced 12 awards granted from their Frank Young Fund for New Musicals. The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals (FYFNM) is a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals. Now in its 12th year, this year the Fund is providing grants totaling $72,000 to organizations across the country.

NAMT Executive Director Betsy King Militello stated: "Every year we are excited to support our member theatres as they work to develop innovative and provocative new musicals. While the development paths may look different at this moment in American Theater, we continue to be incredibly honored to provide grants to member organizations for their support of extraordinary writers telling important stories. With these grants, we have now awarded 165 grants totaling $614,500 to NAMT members across the country through the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals. These projects will join a growing list of significant new musicals supported by this program."

Frank Young Fund grants of $5,000 to $10,000 to support full productions have been awarded to:

Atlantic Theater Company (New York NY) for a production to be announced, with funding from The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Organization.

East West Players (Los Angeles, CA) for Interstate by Melissa Li and Kit Yan, with funding from the Alhadeff Family Charitable Foundation. Interstate was featured in NAMT's 2019 Festival of New Musicals.

Olney Theatre Center (Olney, MD) for A.D. 16 by Bekah Brunstetter and Cinco Paul, with funding from The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Organization. A.D. 16 was featured in NAMT's 2018 Festival of New Musicals.

Seattle Rep (Seattle, WA) for XY by Oliver Houser, with funding from The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Organization. XY was featured in NAMT's 2018 Festival of New Musicals.

Frank Young Fund grants of $2,000 to $5,000 to support a workshop or reading have been awarded to:

Ars Nova (New York, NY) for The Last Medicine Show by Sammy Miller & Kevin Armento.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Chicago, IL) for It Came from Outer Space by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, with funding from the ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund.

Music Theatre of Madison (Madison, WI) for Ten Days in A Madhouse by Karen Saari and Jennifer Hedstrom.

Playwrights Horizons (New York, NY) for Miss Step by Kit Yan and Melissa Li with funding from the ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund. Yan and Li and Festival alumni for Interstate (Fest '19).

Prospect Theater Company, Inc. (New York, NY) for Peter and the Wave by Timothy Huang. Huang is a Festival alum for American Morning (fka Costs of Living, Fest '15)

Theatre Now New York, Inc. (New York, NY) for Golem Owned A Tropical Smoothie by Ethan Crystal and Garrett Poladian.

Village Theatre (Issaquah, WA) for The Homefront by Jenny Stafford and Sam Salmond.

The recipients were selected by a distinguished panel, moderated by Gigi Bolt, the former Director of Theater and Musical Theater at the National Endowment for the Arts. The panelists were Kwofe Coleman, Managing Director of The MUNY; Emma Fassler, New Works Consultant for McCoy Rigby Entertainment; Michel Hausmann, Artistic Director of Miami New Drama; Ricardo Khan, director, writer and Co-Founder/Artistic Director Emeritus Crossroads Theatre Company; Mitchell Marcus, Artistic & Managing Director of The Musical Stage Company; Julia Meinwald, composer and NAMT Festival Alumna; and Michelle Yaroshko, Vice President, Professional Licensing of Concord Theatricals.

Additionally, the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has awarded each of the following member organizations $500 to $2,000 for Writers Residency Grants over the past year:

11th Hour Theatre (Philadelphia, PA) for Bordello by Barbara Bellman & Emilliano Messiez.

Atlantic Theater Company (New York, NY) for Dream Empire by Tom Donaghy & Emily Gardner Xu Hall.

Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam, CT) for an untitled piece by Grace McLean.

New York Theatre Barn (New York, NY) for The Helena Project by Debra Barsha & Sheilah Rae.

Olney Theatre Center (Olney, MD) for OKUNI by Naomi Iizuka & Paul Hodge.

Philadelphia Theatre Company (Philadelphia, PA) for Dear Shirley by Kristen Bair & Kevin Hammonds.

The Public Theater (New York, NY) for The Storyteller by K'naan Warsame.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, CA) for Untitled Asian-American Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical by Min Kahng.

Transport Group Theatre Company (New York, NY) for SPLIT by Michele Lowe & Zoe Sarnak.

Village Theatre (Issaquah, WA) for XY by Oliver Houser. XY was featured in the 2018 Festival of New Musicals.