Aniello Fontano Awarded 2023 Clifford Odets Commission

Award winning playwright and screenwriter, Aniello Fontano, has been awarded the 2023 Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission. The commission, produced by The Lee Strasberg Creative Center and supported by The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, will culminate in a fully produced production at the historic Marilyn Monroe Theatre December 7-9, 2023. The production will be directed by Ben Villegas Randle and feature a cast of graduating NYU Tisch Drama students.

For over a decade, The Lee Strasberg Creative Center has been supporting emerging playwrights and early-career directors through the development of original ensemble plays for college age students. Over a dozen playwrights have been supported through this important initiative including Lucy Thurber, Lila Feinberg, Crystal Skillman, Sarah Gancher, Frank Winters, Calamity West and Dylan Guerra among others. Many of the plays developed through the program have gone on to further productions including Sarah Gancher's The Place We Built, Frank Winters' Student Body (orig. The School Play) and Crystal Skillman's Pulp Vérité.

"Lee's dedication to the American Theatre permeated all aspects of his life, and is at the very foundation of The Institute's mission. Supporting emerging talents--not just the next generation of actors, but playwrights and directors--ensures a vibrant future for the American Theatre. The Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission does just that as evidenced by the many plays, collaborations and careers incubated by this program. We look forward to another decade fostering young artists and watching Lee's vision come alive."

- Anna Strasberg

The commission honors the importance of The Group Theatre and its storied ensemble in the development of original works that transformed the American Theatre. True ensemble plays, developed uniquely out of the talents of a company, have become quite rare and too expensive for many theatres to produce. In this way, The Lee Strasberg Creative Center supports this commission to further the legacy of Lee Strasberg, The Group Theatre, Clifford Odets and the transformative work of Method Acting in the development of a new generation of writers writing in this tradition.

ANIELLO FONTANO

is an award winning playwright, screenwriter, and educator originally from Little Italy, Chicago. After receiving his BA in Directing and Design from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he earned his MFA in Dramatic Writing at New Mexico's flagship university, UNM, on teaching and graduate assistantships in Dramatic Writing and Women's Studies. Prior to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, he was writing for a show in development at Netflix and developing a project with writer/producer christopher oscar peña (Insecure, how to make an American Son, Awe/Struck) and actor/director Ty Molbak (Immortality, Next Exit, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). Beyond his work as a writer, he is a Board Member of Prop Theater in Chicago, once Associate Board Events Chairman and now volunteer with BUILD Chicago (a nationally respected gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organization based on Chicago's West Side), an Art Department Lead Person in IATSE Chicago Local 476, a Writers Room Assistant in IATSE Los Angeles Local 871, and a member of SAG-AFTRA. He continues to be mentored by director Jude Weng (Only Murders in the Building, The Good Place, Twisted Metal).

BEN VILLEGAS RANDLE

is a theatre director based in New York. Recently, he directed the West Coast premiere of Christopher Oscar Peña's How to Make an American Son for Profile Theatre in Portland, OR. His re-imagined, four-actor Hello Again by Michael John LaChiusa opened The Drama League of New York's DirectorFest, when he was the 2019 Drama League Leo Shull Musical Theatre Directing Fellow. He also directed Dance Nation for NYU/Atlantic Acting School and Lauren Yee's Hookman for Atlantic Training Company. Ben spent 15 years in San Francisco directing professionally, and was Artistic Associate at New Conservatory Theatre Center, SF's premier LGBTQIA+ theatre. World Premieres: Sagittarius Ponderosa by MJ Kaufman (NCTC); warplay and Into the Clear Blue Sky by JC Lee; The Fisherman's Wife by Steve Yockey. Ben has worked at New York Stage and Film, BAM, CalShakes, National Queer Theater, Aurora Theatre and West Edge Opera. B.A. from San Francisco State University; Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellow; Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab.

ABOUT THE COMMISSION

The Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission is made possible by The Lee Strasberg Creative Center, a 501 (c) 3 dedicated to the preservation of Lee Strasberg 's legacy through the development of outreach programs, the preservation of archival materials, the incubation of young artists and the fostering of a community of alumni and professionals devoted to Lee Strasberg's work. The Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission seeks to expand on the lineage of The Group Theatre, the great work of Lee Strasberg, and playwright Clifford Odets whose plays for this storied ensemble transformed the American Theatre. Through the commission, The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute seeks to partner talented emerging playwrights, directors and Method trained actors and encourage the synergy of great acting with the development of new works. This commission will provide an incubating space for the development of true ensemble plays in New York City, and develop the next generation of collaborating artists.