HELL'S KITCHEN, REDWOOD, INFINITE LIFE and More Win Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, just announced the recipients of the 2023-24 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $722,000, allow 12 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. 

Over the last 18 years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded over $17,890,534 to 533 productions, enabling many plays to schedule subsequent productions following their world premieres. Thirty-eight have made it to Broadway, including: Skeleton Crew, Paradise Square, Curtains, 13, Next to Normal, 33 Variations, In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), Time Stands Still, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, A Free Man of Color, Good People, Chinglish, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Bronx Bombers, Casa Valentina, Outside Mullingar, All the Way, Eclipsed, Bright Star, Hamilton, The Columnist, In Transit, A Doll's House Part 2, Indecent, Dear Evan Hansen, Oslo, Escape to Margaritaville, The Prom, JUNK: The Golden Age of Debt,  SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, Head Over Heels, and Cost of Living. Twenty plays were nominated for Tony Awards, with All the Way, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Oslo winning the best play or musical awards. Thirteen plays were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with wins for The Hot Wing King (2021), Cost of Living (2018), Hamilton (2016), The Flick (2014), Water by the Spoonful (2012), and Next to Normal (2010).

"As we navigate the compounding crises facing our theatre ecology, the Edgerton Foundation's forward-thinking commitment to new plays is more vital than ever," said Teresa Eyring, TCG's executive director. "As theatres rebuild their audiences, the Foundation's backing of extended rehearsal periods is a true game-changer. Recipients can ensure that new plays receive the necessary resources—not only for successful inaugural productions, but for numerous subsequent performances in theatres nationwide."

The 2023-24 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards were presented to: 

Furlough’s Paradise
at Alliance Theatre
by a.k. payne

A Mirror
at Almeida Theatre
by Sam Holcroft

Infinite Life
at Atlantic Theater & National Theatre
by Annie Baker

Black Cypress Bayou
at Geffen Playhouse
by Kristen Adele Calhoun

Female Troubles
at Goodman Theatre
music by Curtis Moore, lyrics by Amanda Green
book by Jennifer Crittenden & Gabrielle Allan

Highway Patrol
at Goodman Theatre
text arranged & curated by Jen Silverman
based on the digital archives of Dana Delany
created by Dana Delany, Mike Donahue, Dane Laffrey, & Jen Silverman

Untitled Unauthorized Hunter Thompson Musical
at La Jolla Playhouse
music and lyrics by Joe Iconis
book by Joe Iconis and Gregory S. Moss

Sumo
at La Jolla Playhouse & Ma-Yi Theater Company
by Lisa Sanaye Dring

Babbitt
at La Jolla Playhouse
by Joe DiPietro

Redwood
at La Jolla Playhouse
book by Tina Landau, music by Kate Diaz, lyrics by Kate Diaz & Tina Landau, conceived by Tina Landau & Idina Menzel, with additional contributions by Idina Menzel

Nye
at National Theatre in co-production with Wales Millenium Centre
by Tim Price

Hell's Kitchen
at The Public Theater
music & lyrics by Alicia Keys
book by Kristoffer Diaz

Almeida Theatre’s Rupert Goold said, “A Mirror written by Sam Holcroft has been one of the Almeida’s greatest success stories of the year. Through Sam’s distinctly provocative and playful approach to form, the play interrogated censorship, free speech, and authorship. Set within an unsettlingly non-descript society controlled by the state, the world of the play echoed real life dictatorships, both current and historical. Her work, brought to life by the brilliant Jeremy Herrin (Best of Enemies), made audiences question not only what they were seeing on stage, but whether the lessons we’ve been taught about what makes good drama, are in fact, the tools of oppression. The power and endurance of this play is already evident – with the West End transfer scheduled for January 2024. We are incredibly grateful to the Edgerton Foundation for continuing to champion groundbreaking new work at the Almeida Theatre.”

Debby Buchholz, managing director of La Jolla Playhouse, said “La Jolla Playhouse’s 2023/24 Season of six productions featured all world premieres. It is through the support of the Edgerton Foundation that the Playhouse is able to consistently provide the extra time, care, and intentionality required to develop each of these new works in preparation of its first foray in front of an audience. We are grateful for the Edgerton Foundation’s dedication to expanding the American theatre canon.”

The Edgerton Foundation New Plays Program, directed by Brad and Louise Edgerton, was piloted in 2006 with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles by offering two musicals in development an extended rehearsal period for the entire creative team, including the playwrights. The Edgertons launched the program nationally in 2007 and have supported 533 plays to date at over 50 different Art Theatres across the country. 

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by executive director and CEO Teresa Eyring. www.tcg.org.