Everyman Theatre To Receive $10,000 Grant From The National Endowment For The Arts

National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment's second major funding announcement for Fiscal Year 2019. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $10,000 to Everyman Theatre to support the development and production of Caleen Sinnette Jennings's autobiographical play Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains, the third installment of her Queens Girl series.

Art Works is the Arts Endowment's principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,592 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking and will award 977 grants in this category. "These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country," said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. "Organizations like Everyman Theatre are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired."

"I am excited to see the National Endowment for the Arts come on board to support the production of playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings's third play in the Queens Girl trilogy," said Vincent Lancisi, Founder and Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre. "Baltimore audiences are eager to find out what happens to the woman we got to know as a girl who worked her way into our hearts from the age of 12 on her stoop in Queens (Queens Girl in the World), through her high school years in the early 1960"s in Nigeria (Queens Girl in Africa), to her college years at Bennington College in Vermont in the upcoming play Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains."

The grant will support the development and production of a new play by Caleen Sinnette Jennings, which is the third installment in her semi-autobiographical Queens Girl series. The series explores her story as a young African-American girl from Queens, NY and her journey into adulthood. Through its array of characters, the new play will explore race, class, and gender issues, as well as cultural and political forces of the Civil Rights era.

This production embodies Everyman Theatre's mission by highlighting a story rarely seen on the stage, creating an opportunity for dialogue with our diverse community, and includes Resident Company members in the planning and production of this project.

Residents and High School students in the Greater Baltimore region will participate in collaborative opportunities focused on civil rights history and dialogue surrounding this production, as well as opportunities to engage directly with the cast and playwright throughout this project.

For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.