The Huntington to Launch Winter New Play Intensive, New Work Development Series
Select readings and open rehearsals will be open to the public and take place in December 2024.
The Huntington is launching The Winter New Play Intensive, a new work development series where writers, theatre makers, and other performance artists convene and collaborate on new projects. Select readings and open rehearsals will be open to the public and take place in December 2024 at either Deane Hall in the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA (527 Tremont St) or the Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre.
During this focused time, The Huntington will be developing recent commissions, bringing writers to work in mini-residencies, and making new artistic relationships on projects that the theatre is considering for future production. The intensive is designed for cross-pollination between artists: a writer may be hearing their brand-new play for the first time while somewhere else in the building, another artist is preparing a production draft. Artists are encouraged to interact when possible and, in many cases, to support and see each other's work in rehearsal.
“Having all kinds of artists in the building has tremendous power and, in this first year of this new intensive at The Huntington, we are focusing on risk, imagination, and epic modern stories,” says Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. “What makes a play resonate now? How can we commune with artists and make the space for their work to grow and gestate and take the next step — whether they are generating new material for the first time or continuing a process that started years ago? We are thrilled to be joined by each of these extraordinary artists, and hope you will come hear their work in a public reading or open rehearsal.”
The Winter New Play Intensive's public events will feature works by playwrights John Kolvenbach (Stand Up If You're Here Tonight at The Huntington), Mahira Kakkar, and Lenelle Moïse (K-I-S-S-I-N-G at The Huntington, winner of the 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script). Private development activities will involve playwrights and creatives including Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco, director Danilo Gambini, dramaturg Karina Gutierrez, playwright Joshua Harmon (Prayer for the French Republic at The Huntington), playwright Melinda Lopez (Mala, Becoming Cuba, and Sonia Flew at The Huntington), dramaturg Amrita Ramanan, and playwright Lloyd Suh (The Heart Sellers at The Huntington).
Supporting playwrights' voices in the creative ecosystem and empowering seasoned and acclaimed creatives to take risks are core pillars of The Huntington's mission to encourage theatre makers who innovate and generate incredible storytelling. This new intensive will provide space, opportunities, and resources to celebrate and amplify important voices, and it solidifies The Huntington's role as a vibrant hub for creativity and a leader in shaping the future of theatre in Greater Boston and beyond. The Winter New Play Intensive's public events are free to attend, and the dates fit squarely into The Huntington's robust 24-25 season, ensuring that audiences have ample opportunity to attend and celebrate this crucial process of theatre craft without missing out on the rest of the season's offerings.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC READINGS AND REHEARSALS
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 7pm, Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion
Reading of Aunt Jo
written and directed by John Kolvenbach (playwright and director of Stand Up If You're Here Tonight)
Both of Jo's brothers are a mess, her mother is losing it, and Jo's charge, her eighteen-year-old nephew, has fallen dangerously in love. And it's Christmas. Olivier Award-nominated playwright John Kolvenbach is back at The Huntington with a brand new play after the acclaimed 2023 production of Stand Up If You're Here Tonight. Aunt Jo beautifully explores our desperate need for intimacy, the janky harmony of family, and our stumbling attempts to show up for one another.
Monday, December 16, 2024 at 7pm, Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion
Reading of Draupadi
written and performed by Mahira Kakkar
performer/Singer: Sara Haider
dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan
directed by Danilo Gambini
Performer and writer Mahira Kakkar reimagines a powerful thread of the Mahabharata, the ancient South Asian epic of feuding royal families. Draupadi — a woman born from fire and never asked what she wants — navigates a life where she is given to five husbands and gambled away in a game of dice. In this retelling, she takes control of her story, boldly claiming her own desires. In the first of a series exploring frequently overlooked Mahabharata characters, Kakkar creates a searing, sensuous, and funny portrait of what it means to be human in an often inhumane world.
Thursday December 19, 2024 at 7pm, Maso Studio, The Huntington Theatre
Open rehearsal with Lenelle Moïse (Elliot Norton Award-winning playwright of K-I-S-S-I-N-G)
With loop machines and a laptop, playwright Lenelle Moïse composes a story and sound collage inspired by the femme saints of Haitian Vodou. How will the audience be a part of the action? You're invited to an open rehearsal to join her choir and find out! Be ready to hum and tune in as Moïse creates new characters for a hybrid theatre piece celebrating the spirits of love, strength, pleasure, departure, and destiny.
ABOUT THE CLOSED-DOOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
Joshua Harmon (Tony-nominated playwright of Prayer for the French Republic) will be in residence finishing the second act of his new play.
Melinda Lopez (Elliot Norton Award-winning playwright of Mala, Becoming Cuba, and Sonia Flew) will continue work on a contemporary translation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night through Play On with dramaturg Karina Gutierrez. In December, she'll be working on honing a production script by making cuts for the first time and shaping a new streamlined draft.
Playwright Carmen Pelaez and director Loretta Greco will continue work on Tiga, a Miami-set adaptation of the Greek classic, Antigone.
Lloyd Suh (Steinberg/ATCA Award-winning playwright of The Heart Sellers) will hear the very first draft of his new play Three Bears, a co-commission between The Huntington and Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2023, The Huntington produced an acclaimed staging of Lloyd's play The Heart Sellers — the final play of a series he created exploring Asian American history — and now he is turning his attention to the future.
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