TCG Announces 2010 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, is pleased to announce the 38 Edgerton Foundation New American Play awards granted to theatres across the U.S. in 2010. The awards, which total $924,000, provide additional rehearsal and development time for the entire creative team on the new play, including the playwright. Over the last 4 years, 111 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Awards have been granted, totaling $3.2 million.

"It is vital that new play development exist in communities across the country - and that our audiences are invited to participate in the scary, messy, exhilarating process of bringing a new work to life," said Anita Stewart, executive and artistic director of Portland Stage. "Support from The Edgerton Foundation allows Portland Stage and our audiences to be involved in the process of creating something new and unique that can continue to live for years to come."

The goal of The Edgerton Foundation New American Play awards is to utilize up-front development time to help extend the future life of the plays. The plays have also received Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award recognition. Next to Normal won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the following were finalists, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play).

"Our Edgerton grant for Wanamaker's Pursuit is crucial to its development," said Amy Murphy, managing director of Arden Theatre Company. "We know from our talks and experience with playwright Rogelio Martinez that he makes extensive use of early rehearsals to revise and clarify. Set in the art world of 1911 Paris, with fashion designer Paul Poiret as one of the major characters, Wanamaker's Pursuit also affords remarkable opportunities for our design team. The extended development process will allow the designers more time to collaborate with Martinez to create a world that captures this most remarkable time and place."

Theatres with a strong and consistent track record of producing new work are invited to submit letters of inquiry to plays@edgertonfoundation.org<mailto:plays@edgertonfoundation.org>. A panel of readers reviews the plays and one-time grants (ranging from $5,000 - $75,000) are awarded.

"The Edgerton Foundation's commitment to enabling theaters like MCC to give additional time and resources to playwrights like Neil LaBute and the teams of artists who really shape a new work in its world premiere production is incredible," said Blake West, executive director of MCC Theater. "It makes better work, better artists. It has a huge impact not just on our institution or production, but on the whole landscape for new plays."

The 2010 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards were presented to:

Actor's Express, Atlanta, GA
Broadsword
by Marco Ramirez

Alabama Shakespeare, Montgomery, AL
Blood Divided
by Jeffrey Chasting

Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
Wanamaker's Pursuit
by Rogelio Martinez

Arden Theatre, Philadelphia, PA
Ghost Writer
by Michael Hollinger

Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.
Every Tongue Confess
by Marcus Gardley

Arizona Theatre Company, Tucson, AZ
Ten Chimneys
by Jeffrey Hatcher

Borderlands, Tucson, AZ
Arizona: No Roosters in the Desert
by Kara Hartzel
Co-production with El Circulo Teatral and Prop Thtr

City Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
Louder Faster
by Jeffrey Hatcher & Eric Simonson

Curious, Denver, CO
Astronomical Sunset
by Robert Vaughan

Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, TX
The Trinity River Plays
by ReGina Taylor
Co-production with Goodman Theatre

Denver Center Theatre Co., Denver, CO
Map of Heaven
by Michelle Lowe

Denver Center Theatre Co., Denver, CO
The Catch
by Ken Weitzman

Goodman, Chicago, IL
Chinglish
by David Hwang
Co-production with The Public Theater

Goodman, Chicago, IL
Stage Kiss
by Sarah Ruhl

Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN
Master Butchers Singing Club
by Marsha Norman

Kitchen Dog Theater, Dallas, TX
Ponzi
by Elaine Romero

Lincoln Center Theater, New York, NY
A Free Man of Color
by John Guare

Lookingglass, Chicago, IL
The Last Act of Lilka Kadison
by David Kersnar

Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY
Good People
by David Lindsay-Abaire

Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley, CA
Nine Circles
by Bill Cain

MCC Theater, New York, NY
Break of Noon
by Neil LaBute
Co-production with Geffen Playhouse

McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ
The How and The Why
by Sarah Treem

Merrimack Repertory, Lowell, MA
The Exceptionals
by Bob Clyman

New Theatre, Coral Gables, FL
Radiant
by Shirley Lauro

Northlight, Skokie, IL
The Outgoing Tide
by Bruce Graham

Oregon Shakespeare, Ashland, OR
Ghost Light
by Jonathan Moscone and Tony Taccone
Co-production with Berkeley Repertory

Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY
Kin
by Bathsheba Doran

Portland Stage, Portland, OR
Center of Gravity
by Gregory Hischak

Primary Stages, New York, NY
In Transit
by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth

Salt Lake Acting Co., Salt Lake City, UT
The Persian Quarter
Kathleen Cahill

San Jose Rep, San Jose, CA
Love in American Times
by Philip Gotanda

Second Stage, New York, NY
By The Way, Meet Vera Stark
by Lynn Nottage

Shakespeare & Co, Lenox, MA
The Taster
by Joan Ackerman

Signature Theatre, Arlington, VA
Wheatley's Folly
By Michael Slade, Joseph Thalken and Mark Campbell

South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, CA
Completeness
by Itamar Moses

Theatreworks, Palo Alto, CA
The North Pool
by Rajiv Joseph

Theatreworks, Palo Alto, CA
Auctioning the Ainsleys
by Laura Schellhardt

Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT
Bossa Nova
by Kirsten Greenidge

For more information on the plays, please visit: http://www.tcg.org/tools/newplays/index.cfm.

The Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Program, directed by Brad and Louise Edgerton, was piloted in 2006 with the 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 funded 111 plays to date. Fifty plays have been scheduled to have subsequent productions following their world premieres in productions across the country and the globe in almost forty regional companies, five repertory companies and an international festival in Ireland. Six plays have made it to Broadway, including Curtains, 13, Next To Normal, 33 Variations, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), and Time Stands Still. Five others have had off Broadway productions of plays first staged in regional theatres: Back, Back, Back, Equivocation, Restoration, The Brother/Sister Plays and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, exists to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. Founded in 1961, TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the US Center of the InterNational Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is the nation's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH(r), the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre.

In 2005, TCG received the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in recognition of its impact on the national field. TCG and its member theatres are major contributors to the American theatre sector, which employs nearly 130,000 people, produces more than 187,000 performances each year and contributes $1.9 billion to the US economy annually. A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, TCG is led by executive director Teresa Eyring and governed by a national board of directors representing the theatre field. www.tcg.org.