2023 AGE Legacy Playwright Grant Recipients and Finalists Announced

Advance Gender Equity in the Arts presents the 2nd Annual AGE Legacy Playwright (ALP) grants, created by founder Jane Vogel Mantiri and led by AGE Program Director Andréa Morales.

The ALP Grants were conceived to refocus the theatre canon away from storytelling centered on cis white men by investing in the most vulnerable playwrights who have faced barriers because of gender, race, and age. AGE is partnering with The deNovo Initiative and excitedly recognize them as official sponsor for the 2023 ALP Grants. The deNovo Initiative is dedicated to supporting storytellers who propel stories as catalysts for building empathy and changing hearts and minds. AGE's partnership with deNovo amplifies playwrights who have powerful wisdom and narratives to share. The annual ALP grants program provides the three recipients with unrestricted $10,000 grants, with eight finalists each receiving $1,000 honorarium and seeds the future of an equitable American theatre canon.

In March, AGE invited BIPOC playwrights of marginalized gender* over age 40 from across the country to apply for the ALP grants. Submissions included a letter of intent, a full-length play or musical, and a professional resume. Applicants were also asked to answer questions describing career triumphs and challenges, and how they hope to impact the equity framework of the American theatre. A panel of professional BIPOC theatre artists, both Portland-based and nationwide, anonymously adjudicated the applicant's submissions.

Emerging artists Mildred Lewis, DeLanna Studi, and Hope Villanueva have been chosen as the 2023 ALP grant recipients! All three are seasoned theatremakers who have received many accolades but for whom more than one professional production of their writing has been elusive. All describe the challenge of affording time to devote to their writing in an industry that all too often expects uncompensated labor. This particularly rang true this year, as these playwrights also work in TV and film to make ends meet, and with WGA and SAG-Aftra strikes, financial stability for writers in the entertainment industry is volatile

AGE will amplify the three grant recipients as well as the eight finalists all year via newsletters and social media platforms. "We are proud of the work that we have done and strive to find ways to make our initiative even more impactful and empowering for playwrights," stated Mantiri, who wants to "be curative and healing in our relationship with grant recipients. That means respecting our recipients' dignity and judgment in using the funds towards realizing their goals. We are giving fully and freely, knowing that our recipients will make the world a better place. Together, we are doing something that seldom happens in a world still struggling to find pathways to equity."

To learn more about the 2023 AGE Legacy Playwright Grants, visit ageinthearts.org/age-grants/2023-awards/

To learn more about deNovo, visit denovoinitiative.org

*AGE uses the term "marginalized gender" to refer to our community who experience marginalization due to their genders. This includes cisgender women, transgender women, transgender men, and non-binary people, among many other marginalized gender identities.