National Alliance For Musical Theatre Reveals 2024/2025 Writers Residency Grant Recipients

National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the NAMT Member Theatre and Writer Recipients for the 2024/2025 Writers Residency Grants, part of the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals. The Frank Young Fund is a major funding program to support the development and production of new musicals. Writers Residency Grants encourage collaborations between NAMT Member theatres and writers at the earliest stages of a project.

“Developing new musicals requires space, time and trust—three things our members provide with immense dedication,” says Betsy King Militello. “These Writers Residency Grants strengthen the foundation for musical theatre’s future by ensuring that writers and theatres can explore, experiment and build relationships. We are proud to continue investing in our members’ commitment to foster new work, and we can’t wait to see the incredible projects that will emerge from this year’s residencies.”

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has awarded each of the following member organizations $500 to $2,000 for Writers Residency Grants for the 2024/2025 Cycles:

American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) for Desaparecidas by Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca & Georgina Escobar

Ars Nova (New York, NY) for Where We Meet by Kate Eberstadt

Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam, CT) for Legendary by Cheeyang Ng

Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ) for King of Harlem by David Gomez & John-Michael Lyles

New York Theatre Barn (New York, NY) for The Phoenix by Cheeyang Ng, Eric Sorrels & Desdemona Chiang

Olney Theatre Center (Olney, MD) for Okuni by Naomi Iizuka & Paul Hodge

Prospect Musicals (New York, NY) for YUKON HO by Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepard & Regina Strayhorn

Theater Latté Da (Minneapolis, MN) for Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria by Brandy Hoang Collier, Clare Fuyuko Bierman & Erika Ji

Theatre Now New York (New York, NY) for Kusama by Yuriko Shibata & Andrew Strano

The next application cycle for the Writers Residency Grants will open May 1, 2025, for projects slated to take place between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. For more information, visit namt.org/wrg. Applicants must be U.S.-based NAMT member not-for-profit theatre organizations. For more information on membership, visit namt.org/membership.

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals is overseen by NAMT New Works Director Frankie Dailey, and the recommended Grant Recipients for the Writers Residency Grants are selected by the New Works Committee, a distinguished panel of industry leaders from across the country. The 2024/2025 New Works Committee was co-chaired by Eric Keen-Louie of La Jolla Playhouse (CA), Hattie Andres, formerly of Seattle Rep (WA), Justin Lucero of Theater Latté Da (MN) and Ray Hogg of Prime Mover Theater Company (TO). Committee members include Joe Barros of New York Theatre Barn (NY); Jaime Bartolett of Shea Theatricals (NY); Bill Berry of The 5th Avenue Theatre (WA); Cat Brindisi of Asolo Rep (FL); Victoria Bussert of Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music (OH); Kate Galvin of Constellation Stage & Screen (IN); Marguerite Hannah of Horizon Theatre (GA); Elizabeth Kensek, formerly of WaterTower Theatre (TX); Tom Morrissey of Theatre Now New York (NY); Alan Paul of Barrington Stage Company (MA); Laura Peete of Theatre Under The Stars (TX); Damaso Rodriguez of Seattle Rep (WA); Amber Wallace of Ogunquit Playhouse (ME); and Adam Yankowy of Michigan State University (MI).

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has provided over $900,000 of funding to new musicals over the last 15 years, including King of Panagea (NAMT Fest ’22) by Martin Storrow at both Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Aurora Theatre; Redwood by Tina Landau, Kate Diaz and Idina Menzel at La Jolla Playhouse; A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson (NAMT Fest ’19) at Playwrights Horizons; Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian (NAMT Fest ’22) at Ars Nova; String (NAMT Fest ’14) by Adam Gwon (NAMT Fests ’08, ’11 & ’14) and Sarah Hammond (NAMT Fest ’14) at Millikin University; Eight-Sixed by Sam Salmond and Jeremy J. King at Diversionary Theatre; Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori at both Center Theatre Group and The Public Theater; Renascence by Dick Scanlan (NAMT Fest ’96) and Carmel Dean at Transport Theatre Group; The Band’s Visit by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses (NAMT Fest ’12) at Atlantic Theater Company; When We’re Gone (fka Mortality Play, NAMT Fest ’16) by Alana Jacoby and Scotty Arnold at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma; Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs (NAMT Fests ’98 & ’12) at Playwrights Horizons and Dallas Theater Center; Ordinary Days (NAMT Fest ’08) by Adam Gwon (NAMT Fests ’08, ’11 & ’14) at Adirondack Theatre Festival; Circus in Winter (NAMT Fest ’12) by Ben Clark, Hunter Foster and Beth Turcotte at Goodspeed Musicals; and Southern Comfort (NAMT Fest ’12) by Julianne Wick Davis (NAMT Fests ’12 & ’19) and Dan Collins (NAMT Fest ’12) at all three grant levels, at Playwrights Horizons, CAP21 and Barrington Stage Company; among many others. To learn more, visit namt.org/FYFNM info.

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