Arena Stage Now Accepting Submissions for 2015-16 Kogod Cradle Series

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is seeking proposals from playwrights, ensembles and theater companies interested in participating in the 2015/16 Kogod Cradle Series as part of the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its fourth season, the Kogod Cradle Series supports the exploration and development of new and emerging work in the theater's intimate 200-seat Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle. The application is available at http://arenastage.org/artistic-development/work-with-us/, and proposals are due June 15, 2015 for consideration for the 2015/16 season.

Focusing on the development of new plays and devised work by artists from throughout Greater Washington and around the country, this series of readings and workshops invites artists and audiences to actively explore the development process.

"I love this series," shares Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith. "The Kogod Cradle was named for a very important reason: to nurture and cradle new work. This means artists as well as the projects. The Kogod Cradle Series allows Arena the ability to provide a space and forum for artists and smaller companies to experiment and grow and encourages our audiences to experience the full range of artistic voices in our community. The Kogod Cradle Series may be the first step in a project or it can be the linchpin that propels a small piece to the main stage."

"The large turnout and enthusiastic response to the eclecticism of the selected work in the 2014/2015 Series was unprecedented, and we look forward to what awaits our audiences in the upcoming 2016 iteration, which will conclude with selections from members of the second cohort of our Playwrights' Arena initiative," says Director of Artistic Programming Robert Barry Fleming. "I'm confident the quality of the applications will affirm what we have seen evidenced each year-that the national and local Greater Washington area artists who seek out this developmental opportunity continue to push the needle of innovation when it comes to imaginative new work."

The 2014/15 Kogod Cradle Series featured staged, developmental workshop presentations of three projects, including Room at the End of the Hall, a two-person play by Rocco Natale about estranged twin brothers and their troubled past, produced by The Wild Root Company. This was followed by Blue Viola, a contemporary opera from UrbanArias featuring a libretto by Matt Boresi and a blues-infused score by Peter Hilliard about the theft of a supposedly priceless viola, and Moon Lake Productions' A House of Glass, a musical play about the life of Tennessee Williams, featuring a book and lyrics by Shelley Herman Gillon & Harriet McFaul Pilger and music by Paul Leavitt.

Applicants should propose exciting new work that has a sense of inquiry in form and process, including works-in-progress, workshop productions and open rehearsals. This work may come from companies, ensembles or individual artists.

Arena Stage will provide selected artists with access to space in the Mead Center with no rental fee, some technical support, a listing of the production on the Arena Stage website and the necessary staff support to reserve tickets and manage attendance of the public presentations, as well as support from American Voices New Play Institute Dramaturg Jocelyn Clarke. Available date options for artists applying for the 2015/16 Kogod Cradle Series include January 25-31 and February 8- February 14, 2016.

For information on the 2014/15 Kogod Cradle Series visit arenastage.org/artistic-development/new-play-institute/the-cradle-series/index.shtml.

For more information on the American Voices New Play Institute at Arena Stage visit arenastage.org/artistic-development/new-play-institute.

The Kogod Cradle Series is generously sponsored by Arlene and Robert Kogod and the Barbara R. Walton Endowment Fund for New Playwrights.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. Arena Stage produces plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Arena Stage impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. arenastage.org.