Chicago Dramatists Announces New Playwrights in Residence

Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago Avenue, is proud to announce the addition of three new members to its esteemed list of 40 Resident Playwrights.  This fresh batch of extremely talented and exciting writers includes Randall Colburn, Carlos Murillo, and Emily Schwartz.  Other Resident Playwrights have included Rick Cleveland (Mad Men), Rebecca Gilman (Spinning into Butter), Lydia R. Diamond (Stick Fly), Keith Huff (A Steady Rain), Roger Rueff (The Big Kahuna), Brett Neveu (Gas for Less), and Tanya Saracho (Our Lady of the Underpass). Additionally, Chicago Dramatists has developed a new honor for retiring Resident Playwrights of special note: The Distinguished Resident Playwright Emeritus.
 
Chicago Dramatists' thirty-two-year-old Resident Playwright program offers an artistic home to the city's dramatists who potentially will make significant contributions to the American theatre repertory.  Resident Playwrights are beneficiaries of the theatre's fullest and longest-term support; they include a diverse mix of established professionals and promising new writers living in the greater Chicago metropolitan area, with a wide range of artistic and stylistic interests.  Admittance to the Resident program is by application, with selection determined by artistic and professional accomplishment or potential.
 
"I am very excited about their excellence, accomplishment, and their remarkable distinctiveness," said Chicago Dramatists Artisitc Director Russ Tutterow of the three brilliant writers. "I'm confident they will be a great asset to our theatre.  Through our long-standing Residency program, we seek to nurture accomplished, Chicago-based dramatists who we think have the potential to make significant contributions to the National Theatre scene."  Tutterow is very pleased to introduce the following to the ranks of Resident Playwrights:
 
RANDALL COLBURN has produced or developed plays in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, and Great Britain at such theaters as the Alliance, the Public, Victory Gardens, CityLit, InFusion, Stage Left, and The Right Brain Project, which dedicated its 2010 season to his work. He is the recipient of a 2010 Individual Artist Grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and was a finalist for the Kendeda Graduate Playwright Competition and the New York Summer Play Fest.  Recent productions include PRETTY PENNY and HESPERIA (Right Brain Project) and GHOSTBOX (InFusion Theatre).  He is currently commissioned by Writer's Theatre. 
 
CARLOS MURILLO is an internationally produced playwright.  His plays have been seen at The Humana Festival of Actors Theatre of Louisville, Theatre @ Boston Court in L.A., Budapest's Vigszinhaz, Theatre der Stadt Aalen (Germany), Salt Lake Acting Company, Circle X, En Garde Arts, Theatre Seven, The Sundance Lab, The Public, Bay Area Playwrights, The Kennedy Center, South Coast Rep and others.  His plays include A THICK DESCRIPTION OF Harry Smith, DIAGRAM OF A PAPER AIRPLANE, DARK PLAY OR STORIES FOR BOYS, MIMESOPHOBIA, A HUMAN INTEREST STORY, SCHADENFREUDE and others that have been published by Dramatists Play Service, Smith & Kraus, and Theatre Forum.  Murillo has received the Ofner Prize from the Goodman, National Latino Playwriting Award, Inge Festival Otis Guernsey Award, and a Jerome Fellowship. He is currently commissioned by Steppenwolf, Playwrights Horizons and The Theatre School of DePaul University, where he heads the Playwriting Program.  He is a resident playwright of New Dramatists.
 
EMILY SCHWARTZ is the Artistic Director of The Strange Tree Group where she has penned the Jeff Nominated THE DASTARDLY FICUS AND OTHER COMEDIC TALES OF WOE AND MISERY, and the critically-acclaimed MR. SPACKY...THE MAN WHO WAS CONTINUOUSLY FOLLOWED BY WOLVES, and more.  Upcoming projects include a month-long workshop of her original piece THE SPIRIT PLAY at the Chicago DCA Theater's incubator series, THE WAR PLAYS at the Athenaeum, and THE THREE FACES OF DR. CRIPPEN at Steppenwolf's 2nd Annual GARAGE REP. Schwartz was critic's pick for the 'Best Chicago Playwright of 2008' by the Chicago Reader alongside fellow Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright Marisa Wegrzyn.  She is an artistic associate of Collaboraction and a member of the Unnamed Lady Playwrights Group.
 
Benefits of Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright Program
Resident Playwrights are granted a 3-year renewable term, during which they receive full access to all Chicago Dramatists' development programs and professional services.  These include the weekly Saturday Series of public play readings, private table readings, productions, the semi-annual Deadline Workshop, the monthly Instant Theatre, special workshops, festivals, talent coordination, referrals to producing theatres, collaborative projects with other theatres, career counseling, and one-to-one dramaturgy.
 
DISTINGUISHED RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHT EMERITUS
A status granted at the discretion of the Artistic Director, the Distinguished Resident Playwright Emeritus acknowledges Resident Playwrights who are no longer active, but who have distinguished themselves in the profession and in their service to Chicago Dramatists, and who maintain an important association with the organization.  Distinguished Resident Playwright Emeriti may avail themselves of Chicago Dramatists' developmental programming.  This new honor has been bestowed upon the following notable playwrights: Carson Grace Becker, Rebecca Gilman, Evan Guilford-Blake, Joel Drake Johnson, and Brett Neveu. 
 
In the fall of 1979, four playwrights came together to hear their work read aloud and to hone their craft.  Today, Chicago Dramatists' amazing record of achievement has landed them an invaluable place in the artistic community as a vital source of inspiration to 40 resident playwrights, 160 associate playwrights, 60 associate artists, and thousands of audience members.  Over the past three decades, Chicago Dramatists has worked with over a thousand playwrights, produced and developed thousands of plays, and stayed true to its mission to nurture compelling, challenging and diverse plays that move on to productions, earn awards, and define the American theatre. 
 
Each season Chicago Dramatists presents three world premiere productions and the signature Saturday Series, weekly staged readings of plays in progress.  The theatre also conducts educational outreach to at-risk students at Chicago Public Schools, awakening the possibility of self-expression by writing for the theatre. Through passionate dedication, personal nurture and careful exposure, Chicago Dramatists carries on its mission of developing new plays and playwrights for the next generation of theatre.
 
Chicago Dramatists is located just minutes from the Loop at 1105 W. Chicago Avenue, at the 24-hour Chicago Avenue stop of the Blue Line subway, and is just off the Ogden and Augusta exits of the Kennedy Expressway. There is street parking available and free reserved parking with ticket purchase. For more information, visit www.chicagodramatists.org.