Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Daniel Sullivan, Acting Artistic Director 2007-2008) has announced the recipients of its first Bank of America Playwright Commissioning Program. The three recipients are David Lindsay-Abaire, Noah Haidle and Liz Flahive.
Bank of America has provided a grant to Manhattan Theatre Club to support this three-year program. Commissions will be issued each June. This program is being overseen by
Lynne Meadow and MTC's new Director of Artistic Development Jerry Patch. The commissions will directly support contemporary playwrights by providing the resources needed to create new work -- work that will be nurtured and developed with the goal of being presented on one of MTC's three stages.
"We are thrilled to be able to commission these deserving American writers and so grateful to Bank of America for making this possible," stated Jerry Patch. "We look forward to working with our commissioned playwrights and are hopeful we'll see the Bank of America commissions on our stages."
"Bank of America is dedicated to helping the arts flourish, particularly American arts and artists," said
Rena DeSisto, global arts & culture executive for Bank of America. "We are pleased to present this opportunity for new American plays to be developed and to contribute to the canon of American theater."
David Lindsay-Abaire was most recently awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Rabbit Hole, which premiered on Broadway last season at MTC's Biltmore Theater. The play also received five Tony Award nominations, including Best Play and the Spirit of America Award. His other plays include Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, Wonder of the World and A Devil Inside, among others. David is also currently writing the book and lyrics for the Broadway-bound musical Shrek. In addition to his work in theater, David wrote the screenplay for the Newline feature Inkheart, and is currently at work on screen adaptations of his plays Rabbit Hole for 20th Century Fox, starring
Nicole Kidman, and Kimberly Akimbo for Dreamworks.
Noah Haidle's play Persephone opened at the Huntington Theater in April of 2007. His play Vigils premiered at Chicago's Goodman Theater and later at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Mr. Marmalade had its New York premiere at the Roundabout Theatre Company. His play Princess Marjorie received its world premiere at South Coast Repertory. Haidle's Rag and Bone played at the Long Wharf Theatre as part of the New American Voices Festival under the direction of
Tina Landau. His latest play Saturn Returns will premiere this fall at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater. He is the recipient of three Lincoln Center Le Compte Du Nuoy Awards, the 2005 Helen Merrill Award for emerging Playwrights, the 2007 Claire Tow Award, and an NEA/TCG theatre residency grant.
Liz Flahive's play From Up Here recently premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club and received the John Gassner Playwrighting Award from the Outer Critics Circle. It was also nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Her plays have been produced, workshopped and read at NYU, Williamstown Theater Festival, Naked Angels and Ars Nova. Liz also volunteers with The 52nd Street Project, an organization that pairs inner city kids with professional theater artists to create original theater.
First drafts of all commissioned plays will be given an in-house reading at MTC's Creative Center, to be followed by feedback sessions between Artistic Development staff and the playwright. All final scripts will be evaluated for potential production at one of MTC's three performance spaces.
Under the leadership of Artistic Director
Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer
Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned numerous awards, including 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Kimberly Akimbo; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin'.
In 2003, MTC reopened Broadway's landmark, long-neglected Biltmore Theatre, soon to be renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.
During Meadow's sabbatical this season,
Daniel Sullivan, a close associate of MTC and director of several Manhattan Theatre Club productions (Rabbit Hole,
Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Proof, Psychopathia Sexualis), has been serving as Acting Artistic Director. Meadow will resume her full duties as artistic director in September and is consulting on the planning of the 2008-2009 season.
Bank of America is a leading supporter of arts and culture in the United States. Through a wide variety of programs, Bank of America works to strengthen artistic institutions and provide greater access to treasured works of art for both its customers and those who might not otherwise experience them. Each year, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation provides millions of dollars in grants to a wide range of arts organizations, supporting education and access programs and enabling institutions to expand their scope, and underwrites national and local performances, arts programs, and exhibitions. Through its unique loaned exhibition program, the bank offers its art collection to museums throughout the country, free of charge, so they may expand their offerings for the benefit of their communities.
Photo by
Ben Strothmann.
