SpeakEasy Stage Receives $10,000 Grant from NEA for VIOLET

SpeakEasy Stage will receive an Arts Work Award of $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help fund a unique collaboration between the company and area gospel choirs as part of its upcoming New England premiere production of the acclaimed Broadway musical VIOLET, running January 9 - February 6, in its home in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.

The news came yesterday as the NEA announced 1126 awards totaling more than $27.7 million to recipients in 49 states plus America Samoa, Guam, and the District of Columbia in its first funding round of fiscal year 2016.

In its first 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction, the only arts funder in the nation to do so. This new round of awards inaugurates the organization's next 50 years of funding, an NEA spokesman noted in a separate release: click here

The Art Works category supports the creation of work and presentation of both new and existing work, lifelong learning in the arts, and public engagement with the arts through 13 arts disciplines or fields.

NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, "The arts are part of our everyday lives - no matter who you are or where you live - they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities, and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society. Supporting projects like the one from SpeakEasy Stage Company offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day."

"We want to thank the NEA for their support, which will allow us to collaborate with local gospel choirs to enrich our production of Violet, engage our audiences in a new way, and deepen and strengthening our connections to the community."

Featuring a powerful folk, rock, and gospel score, VIOLET tells the story of a North Carolina woman who embarks on a journey of self-discovery across the South in 1964. The show, featuring music by Jeanine Tesori and lyrics and book by Brian Crawley, was a 2015 Tony Award nominee for Best Musical Revival.

The project which the NEA is supporting has three components:

- It will allow SpeakEasy partner with some local gospel choirs and singers and incorporate them into our production of VIOLET.

- It will allow SpeakEasy to highlight a different facet of the Boston arts community and engage our audiences in a new way.

- It will allow us to deepen our ties to the community, through outreach to the communities the choruses serve. This engagement piece will also involve pre- and post-show discussions and artists forums throughout the run of the show.

VIOLET will run for five weeks, from January 9 to February 6, in the Virginia Wimberly Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston's South End. Ticket prices start at $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and persons age 25 and under. For tickets or more information, the public is invited to call 617-933-8600 or visit www.SpeakEasyStage.com.

SpeakEasy Stage Company stages Boston premiers and champions local talent. We connect Boston audiences and artists by producing relevant, intimate, and surprising theatre. We lead a courageous, compassionate, and open-hearted theatre community that reflects the vibrance and diversity of our city. We value collaboration, excellence, responsibility, respect, inclusion, and joy.

A Boston-based nonprofit professional theater company, SpeakEasy Stage Company is the Pavilion Resident Theater for the Boston Center for the Arts and currently produces 27-30 weeks of new plays and musicals each season at the Nancy and Ed Roberts Studio Theater.

As a mission-driven organization, we exist to connect Boston audiences and artists by producing relevant, intimate, and surprising theatre.

- We are passionate about staging Boston premieres and championing local talent.

- We lead a courageous, compassionate and open-hearted theatre community, which develops local talent and reflects the vibrance and diversity of our city.

- We value collaboration, responsibility, courage, respect, inclusion, joy, and excellence.

Founded in 1992, the company has emerged as a leader in Greater Boston's theatre community and a cornerstone of the arts and culture scene in Boston's South End neighborhood.

SpeakEasy hosts artist forums to engage our audiences in dialogue about the important issues in our productions. Through dialogue with playwrights, directors, actors, and designers, we continue to expand the role of theater as a catalyst for conversation and for the advancement of equality, compassion, and community building.

Paul Daigneault is the Producing Artistic Director and founder of SpeakEasy Stage Company. He received his BA in English and Theatre from Boston College in 1987. He subsequently studied directing with Bob Moss, founder of Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons. While in New York City, Paul worked as the Education Coordinator and Asst. Production Manager at Second Stage Theater. It was Second Stage's intimate setting that inspired Paul's vision for SpeakEasy.

In 1992, Paul returned to Boston and founded SpeakEasy Stage Company to fill the need for fresh and innovative programming in Boston's theatre community and to provide greater opportunities for Boston-area artists. He set out to demand the best from Boston artists while at the same time creating a positive work atmosphere where artists felt safe enough to put forth their best. The fulfillment of this vision is apparent in the number of artists who consistently return to SpeakEasy. Paul's vision includes the belief that the best theatre comes from relationships and communication. He seeks to nurture Boston directors, designers, and actors by giving them the opportunity to work directly with the playwrights and composers of SpeakEasy's mainstage shows.

This season, Paul will direct SpeakEasy's productions of Violet and Dogfight. His directing highlights from the past five seasons at SpeakEasy include: Big Fish, Mothers & Sons, The Color Purple, In the Heights, Next to Normal; Xanadu; Nine; Body Awareness; The Great American Trailer Park Musical; [title of show]; and The Savannah Disputation. Paul's work at The Boston Conservatory includes teaching Junior Musical Theater and the Senior Directing Emphasis. In 2014, Paul was honored with the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence. In 2007, Paul was honored with the Boston College Arts Council's Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement, and in 2001-2012, served as the Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J., Professor in Theatre Arts at Boston College.

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