Yale Repertory Theatre Reveals Newly Commissioned Artists

Yale Repertory Theatre has revealed the commissioning of new work by Windham Campbell Prize-winning playwright and novelist Kia Corthron; Grammy Award-winning multidisciplinary artist and writer Ty Defoe; and Academy Award-winning playwright, TV writer, screenwriter, director, and actor Charise Castro Smith. These three artists join a roster of more than 70 others whose work has been supported by Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre—the artist-driven initiative that devotes major resources to the commissioning, development, and production of new plays and musicals. 
 
Kia Corthron’s plays Breath, Boom and Splash Hatch on the E Going Down were produced at Yale Rep in 2002 and 1998 respectively. Ty Defoe previously worked at Yale Rep as choreographer on the 1491’s Between Two Knees (2022) and as movement consultant for Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle (2020). Yale Rep produced the award-winning world premiere of Charise Castro Smith’s El Huracán in 2018.
 
“I am delighted to welcome Kia Corthron, Ty Defoe, and Charise Castro Smith back to Yale Repertory Theatre as commissioned artists,” said Artistic Director James Bundy. “They are among the most adventurous and singular artistic voices in American culture today and it is thrilling to imagine how they will continue to advance our artform in thrilling new directions.”
 
In addition, Kia Corthron is the second recipient of three annual Peter Shaffer Commissions, which support work of significant scope, and are made possible by a generous gift from the Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation. Foundation Trustee Alan U. Schwartz said, "The Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation is very proud to continue its partnership with Yale Rep and looks forward to the development of Kia Corthron’s Peter Shaffer Commission through Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre."
 
Managing Director Florie Seery said, “We are enormously grateful to the Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation for their continued generosity and commitment to supporting playwriting at Yale Rep and other theaters here in the U.S. and abroad.”
 
Established in 2008, the Binger Center was permanently endowed in 2012 by a gift from the Robina Foundation with additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Time Warner Foundation, Inc., the Lucille Lortel Foundation, and individual donors. The Binger Center is named in honor of James H. Binger (1916-2004), the noted businessman, theatre impresario, and philanthropist who created the Robina Foundation. Additional funding is from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Time Warner Foundation, Inc., the Lucille Lortel Foundation, the Sir Peter Shaffer Charitable Foundation, The Roy Cockrum Foundation, and individual donors.
 
To date, the Binger Center has supported the work of more than 70 artists with commissions, residencies, readings, and workshops. Each development process is tailor-made to the artist’s need and can take place in New Haven, Connecticut, or New York City. The Binger Center compensates artists for all developmental activities with fees for rehearsals, housing, and travel. This compensation is paid to commissioned artists in addition to commission fees and/or royalties. In addition to the resources offered in the early stages of the development of a commission, the Binger Center has underwritten the premieres and subsequent productions of more than 30 new plays and musicals at Yale Rep. 
 
Two Yale Rep commissions were presented on Broadway earlier this year. Lempicka, with book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer and music by Matt Gould, commissioned by Yale Rep in partnership with Full Stage USA at New Dramatists (a program made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), was nominated for three Tony Awards following acclaimed runs at Williamstown Theatre Festival and La Jolla Playhouse. Amy Herzog’s Mary Jane, which had its world premiere at Yale Rep in 2017, was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Play. 
 
On the west coast, Skylight Theatre Company presented The Sandwich Ministry by Miranda Rose Hall. Commissioned by Yale Rep, the play was produced with support from the Binger Center’s production fund which provides financial support for productions of new work commissioned and/or first produced by Yale Rep, offering opportunities for the work to be seen by audiences across the country. 
 
This season, Yale Rep’s world premieres of falcon girls by Hilary Bettis and Yura Kordonsky’s new adaptation of Gogol’s The Inspector, as well as Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Board Members by Mara Vélez Meléndez are supported by the Binger Center. 
 
More information about the artists, commissioned plays, and productions supported by Yale’s Binger Center for New Theatre is available online.