Erika Dickerson-Despenza News

The Public Theater announced that the world premiere audio play, SHADOW/LAND, written by Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence Erika Dickerson-Despenza has been added to The Public’s spring digital season. Directed by Lilly Award winner Candis C. Jones, SHADOW/LAND will premiere on Tuesday, April 13 and be available for free on-demand streaming.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for 2021 for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced the names of the 20 outstanding early-to-mid-career playwrights who will be celebrated with 2020 Steinberg Playwright Awards in the amount of $10,000 each

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust today announced the names of the 20 outstanding early-to-mid-career playwrights who will be celebrated with 2020 Steinberg Playwright Awards in the amount of $10,000 each. As previously announced, these awards are being given in response to this extremely difficult year, and in an effort to better meet the immediate and pressing needs of playwrights.

Building on over 40 years of producing powerful contemporary theatre, Studio Theatre is pleased to announce its largest class ever of commissioned artists to Studio R&D, its incubator to support the creation of new work. Studio will award grants to 10 artists-playwrights, directors, and multidisciplinary creators-investing in its future while supporting theatre-makers and expanding the idea of what it means to be a generative artist. For the first time, Studio R&D commissions are being awarded to support the creation of audio plays, as Studio explores alternate modes of theatrical storytelling in response to the present moment.

The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation announced its 2019 grants in The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation's Women Playwrights Commissioning Program. These grants fund commissions for emerging female playwrights at selected theaters nationwide.

Last night, the 2018-2019 class of Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellows presented excerpts of full length works at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

The Public Theater announced today the Public Forum and Public Shakespeare Initiative fall line-up that will explore the intersection of art, ideas, and action and illuminate the study and performance of Shakespeare's works.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, announces the recipients of the second round of the 2019 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $583,000, allow 15 productions extra time for the development and rehearsal of new plays with the entire creative team, hoping to extend the life of the world premiere play after its first run. 

The Lark has announced that playwrights Xavier Galva and Ife Olujobi have been selected as the recipients of the 2019-20 New Voices Fellowship, supported by the Jerome Foundation. This year long residency is designed to support extraordinary playwrights of color under 30, in order to to help address the lack of inclusion of early career playwrights of color in the field. The Fellowship includes a cash award of $15,000, plus a $3,000 Opportunity Fund for the purposes of research, travel, or other expenses, as well as access to The Lark's artistic resources and support. The New Voices program is part of a portfolio of Fellowships at The Lark, which aims to engage a diverse community of playwrights from around the world, at various places in their careers.

Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Chay Yew, Executive Director Erica Daniels and Director of New Play Development Skyler Gray announce the lineup for the 11th Anniversary IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including The Tasters by Meghan Brown; The Gradient by Steph Del Rosso; [hieroglyph] by Erika Dickerson-Despenza; #NEWSLAVES by Keelay Gipson; Reckoning: Furies from a New Queer Nation by Geraldine Inoa; and They Could Give No Name by Exal Iraheta. The 2019 Festival runs August 2 -4, 2019 at Victory Gardens Theater, located at 2433 N Lincoln Avenue.

On Thursday, June 27th The Kilroys celebrated the drop of THE LIST 2019 at WP Theater in New York City. The event celebrated the 13 founding members of the organization and the 33 plays featured on THE LIST 2019. 

Victory Gardens Theater Artistic Director Chay Yew, Executive Director Erica Daniels and Director of New Play Development Skyler Gray announce the lineup for the 2019 IGNITION Festival of New Plays, including The Tasters by Meghan Brown; The Gradient by Steph Del Rosso; [hieroglyph] by Erika Dickerson-Despenza; #NEWSLAVES by Keelay Gipson; Reckoning: Furies from a New Queer Nation by Geraldine Inoa; and They Could Give No Name by Exal Iraheta. The 2019 Festival runs August 2 -4, 2019 at Victory Gardens Theater, located at 2433 N Lincoln Avenue.

The Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, directed by Kenny Leon, opened just last night at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, running through Sunday, June 23.

Public Theater announced the line-up today for The Public's 2019-20 Season 

Vassar & New York Stage and Film announce casting for the first mainstage production of the Powerhouse Season as well as the addition of the musical Galileo and play Becky Nurse of Salem to the readings festival, and the announcement of the 2019 New York Stage and Film Founders' Award recipient and Fellows.

The New Black Fest and The Lark, two theater organizations dedicated to celebrating and advocating for stories that uplift the wide range of experiences in our complex world, are proud to announce the sixth annual The New Black Fest at The Lark.

The Public Theater announced the sixth season of PUBLIC STUDIO today, which will present two new works this spring. Continuing The Public's commitment to nurturing new playwrights, the two productions will run in succession in The Public's Shiva Theater and be presented as pared-down productions with the low ticket price of $15. This vital program continues The Public's mission of making new work by emerging artists accessible to all audiences.

Today, influencer and talent manager ChiChi Anyanwu of the NYC Black Theater Network, Marcia Pendelton, President of Walk Tall Girl Productions/Black Theater Online, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Kevin Young, Director, Schomburg Center) announced BLACK PLAYWRIGHTS: THEY SPEAK. WHO LISTENS? A Black Theater Winter Preview: Broadway and Off-Broadway Edition. The event is scheduled at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (515 Malcolm X Blvd) on Monday, January 28, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. Four-time Tony Award-winning producer Ron Simons of SimonSays Entertainment (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Porgy & Bess, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Jitney) will host the program whose purpose is to bring attention to the unprecedented number of plays by black playwrights being produced on Broadway and Off-Broadway this season.

The American Playwriting Foundation, established to make annual grants to new American plays, has selected Harrison David Rivers for The 2018 Relentless Award, the largest annual cash prize in American theater awarded to a play.