Playwrights Realm Selects 2013-14 Writing Fellows

The Playwrights Realm has selected four early-career playwrights for its 2013-14 Writing Fellows program: Elizabeth Irwin, Lila Rose Kaplan, Jason Gray Platt, and Amelia Roper.

The Writing Fellows program lies at the very heart of what The Playwrights Realm does - helping writers write. Each year, four early-career playwrights are selected to join The Playwrights Realm to work on a new play over the course of nine months. Through creative development with the Realm's artistic staff, each writer brings their play from draft form to production-ready state. They are also provided with professional development though workshops that mentor them in various areas including, for example, financial planning and help finding an agent. Additionally, each playwright receives a $2,500 stipend, an internal reading with actors and the generous use of the Realm's office space for printing, writing, meetings and more.

This Residency culminates in a final reading of each playwright's finished work in the INK'D Reading Festival. The writers will work with a designer to help develop the physical world of their script and see elements of these designs fully realized on stage in produced presentations. All readings in INK'D are open to the public and free-of-charge, and will occur in May of 2014. The entire Residency is designed to widen an artist's network of resources and gain a strong foothold in New York theatre.

The 2013-14 Writing Fellows program drew more than 200 applicants. In order to become a Realm Writing Fellow, playwrights must be in the Early Stages of their careers and crave a rigorous development process. Applicants' plays are read by playwrights, producers, and directors across the country, finalists' plays go through several rounds of readings and finalists themselves are interviewed by Realm staff. Fellows are chosen based on their demonstration of intellectual curiosity, commitment to a career as a playwright, and, of course, the promise of their voice and vision.

"I'm thrilled to be welcoming Jason, Lila Rose, Amelia, and Elizabeth to The Realm," said Artistic Director Katherine Kovner. "We had more applicants than ever this year and were looking not only for skilled playwrights, but for individuals who are at the right moment in their career to take advantage of the professional development resources we offer. The work of each of these artists stood out because their plays display craft, an exciting new voice, and a vividly painted world for audiences to inhabit. I'm excited to get to spend a year with these plays and these playwrights."

Past Writing Fellows include Mia Chung (You For Me For You), J.C. Lee (The Inexplicable Disappearance of Hector Villaraigosa), Bekah Brunstetter (Hey Brother), Christopher Oscar Peña (Icarus Burns), Stefanie Zadravec (The Electric Baby), Amy Herzog (After the Revolution), Joe Tracz (In The Woods Where Wolves Are), Mfoniso Udofia (Sojourners), and Ethan Lipton, whose Red-Handed Otter was produced by The Playwrights Realm at the Cherry Lane Theater last fall. A complete list of past Writing Fellows can be found at playwrightsrealm.org.

The Playwrights Realm, helmed by Artistic Director Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Renee Blinkwolt, is devoted to supporting emerging playwrights along the journey of playwriting, helping them to hone their craft, fully realize their vision and build meaningful artistic careers. To serve this mission, The Playwrights Realm has produced one Off-Broadway play each year since its founding in 2007, giving ample time and support to every playwright who has joined the Realm. Previous productions by The Playwrights Realm include this season's The Hatmaker's Wife by Lauren Yee, Red-Handed Otter by Ethan Lipton (2012), Crane Story by Jen Silverman (2011), Gonzalo Rodriguez Risco's Dramatis Personae (2010), Christopher Wall's Dreams of the Washer King (2010), Anna Ziegler's Dov and Ali(2009) and Anton Dudley's Substitution (2008). The Playwrights Realm is dedicated to providing comprehensive support to playwrights throughout their creative processes and careers and supplements it's Off Broadway productions with the Page One Residency, Alumni Playwrights Program, Writing Fellows Residency, and New Play Development Pipeline.