Playwrights Ngozi Anyanwu, Lucy Thurber & More Join New Harmony Project

The New Harmony Project, an organization dedicated to supporting writers interrogating the complexity of hope, has announced that they will continue in-person programming with their 35th annual spring conference in idyllic New Harmony, Indiana. A group of over 40 participants will gather for residencies May 25-June 5, 2022.

Following an intensive selection process that saw hundreds of applications, a diverse, 26-person, paid selection panel made recommendations for the 2022 company. The incredible group of selected artists includes Karina Billini (2144 South St., Faded: A Calypso), Mike Elsherif (The Reel, City Strays), Ramón Esquivel (The Hero Twins: Blood Race, Above Between Below), Kareem Fahmy (American Fast, A Distinct Society), Velina Hasu Houston (Tea, Path of Dreams), jk jk (Catalina La O Presenta: Now With Me, always boy), Garrett David Kim (Are You There Truman? It's Me, Just Another Guy Who Grew Up Secretly Worshiping Your Chiseled Porn Star Body Online, And Now I Think I Love You), Nancy Ma (Home), and Christina Watkins (kumrads won't).

Two writers selected for NHP's 2020 conference, Amy Evans (Jet Fuel, The Champion) and Dan O'Brien (The Body of an American, The House in Scarsdale), were unable to join for the rescheduled conference in 2021 and will also be in residence this spring. In addition to on-site dramaturgical support from Megan Monaghan Rivas (artistic director, Connecticut Repertory Theatre), writers were offered the opportunity to bring a collaborator of their choice to New Harmony for their residency.

NHP looks forward to welcoming composer/sound artist Avi Amon, writer/director/cinematographer JohnBen Lacy, director/curator Nicky Maggio, director Marya Mazor, writer John McManus, director/dramaturg Christian Parker, illustrator Juliana Rose, and director Steven Wilson.

"We're thrilled to be celebrating our 35th conference with such an amazing cohort of artists! We found our way to this fantastic group of writers while we were deep in the strategic planning process and the resulting 2022 company is a gorgeous reflection of our freshly articulated mission and values. We look forward to providing a restorative place to work, a nurturing environment to reset, and a supportive community of artists to inspire the development of new work that will change the world" says artistic director, Lori Wolter Hudson.

Additionally, following an incredibly successful collaboration with Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Center Theatre Group in 2019 to develop King James by Rajiv Joseph, The New Harmony Project is again partnering with Steppenwolf to bring a cohort of commissioned playwrights and ensemble members to New Harmony.

The list of writers includes Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen) and Lucy Thurber (The Town Hill Plays), in addition to Steppenwolf Ensemble Members Jon Michael Hill (Elementary, Pass Over), Kate Arrington (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Mare of Easttown), and founding member Terry Kinney (Billions, Inventing Anna). Director of New Play Development Polly Hubbard (King James) will provide dramaturgical support.

The New Harmony Project is also pleased to announce a continued partnership with the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. They plan to host five Michael Kanin Playwriting Award Winners and a dramaturgy fellow during the conference, who will be announced at a later date.

The New Harmony Project boasts an impressive roster of past participants including Erika Dickerson-Despenza (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner cullud wattah, 2019 Princess Grace Award), Rajiv Joseph (King James, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Robert Schenkkan (All the Way, The Great Society, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner), Theresa Rebeck (Bernhardt/Hamlet, NBC's Smash, Seminar), Lee Blessing (Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee, A Walk in the Woods), Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour) Steven Dietz (Lonely Planet), Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Where We Stand, Last Night and the Night Before), Vichet Chum (Bald Sisters, 2018 Princess Grace Award), James Still (four time Pulitzer Prize nominee, The Velocity of Gary), Meredith Stiehm (Emmy winner, Homeland, Cold Case), Danny Strong (two time Emmy winner, Empire, Lee Daniels' The Butler), George Brant (Grounded, Marie and Rosetta), Idris Goodwin (Break Beat Play, How We Got On), Regina Taylor (Drowning Crow, Crowns), Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51, Actually), Dael Orlandersmith (After the Flood), Jim Leonard (Major Crimes, Dexter), Ngozi Anyanwu (The Homecoming Queen, Good Grief), Mark St. Germain (Freud's Last Session, The Cosby Show), Matt Williams (Home Improvement, Roseanne), David McFadzean (Home Improvement, Roseanne) and Angelo Pizzo (Rudy, Hoosiers).

In April of 1986, a group of theater, film, and television professionals gathered in Indianapolis to explore the trend in the entertainment arts toward exploitative and sensational material. They concluded there was a need to engage and support writers whose work sought a goal beyond mere entertainment, work that sought to empower and uplift. It was out of this meeting that The New Harmony Project was created. For more than three decades, The New Harmony Project has been serving writers whose work emanates hope, courage, and the strength and resiliency of the human spirit. We elevate stories for theater, television, and film that inspire, enlighten, and endeavor to make the world a better place. Following a leadership transition in the fall of 2017, The New Harmony Project expanded its programming in Central and Southwestern Indiana, and just completed a strategic planning process that outlines the organization's desire to become a more just, equitable, antiracist, and impactful New Harmony Project.

For more information visit www.newharmonyproject.org/strategic-plan. To become involved in their upcoming programming development process sign up at www.newharmonyproject.org/program-development. The New Harmony Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For information on how to support this unique and worthwhile organization, please visit www.newharmonyproject.org.

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