Dramatists Guild Foundation Reveals 2024-2025 Fellows Class

Dramatists Guild Foundation has revealed the 2024-2025 class of Fellows. The program propels the most promising creative talents to their full potential to help shape the future of theater.

The Fellows program is a year-long intensive for New York City-based, emerging dramatists looking to develop existing work in the next level of their careers. This cohort of dramatists will work together under the guidance and leadership of professional playwrights to develop current work in pursuit of commercial development and production.

The Fellows program also welcomes a new group of Chairs this year. Anne Washburn and Migdalia Cruz serve as the Playwriting Chairs for this year’s Fellows class. Rona Siddiqui and Itamar Moses serve as the Musical Theater Chairs for this year’s Fellows class.

Fellows receive a $5,000 stipend, access to career resources, an industry mentor, and the opportunity to partner with several arts organizations. At the end of the program, each Fellow will have an opportunity to participate in a presentation of their work for top theater professionals. The Fellows program is highly sought after for its uniquely successful format of partnering playwrights and musical theater writers together in the learning process, who come together bringing a variety of backgrounds, identities, styles, and experiences to the program.

The 2024-2025 DGF Fellows are:

Arianna Afsar, Musical Theater Writing
Emma Ashford, Musical Theater Writing
Sophie Boyce, Musical Theater Writing
Fouad Dakwar, Musical Theater Writing
Jen Diamond, Playwriting
Matthew Jellison, Playwriting
Yilong Liu, Playwriting
Jaime Lozano, Musical Theater Writing
Veronica Mansour, Musical Theater Writing
Ro Reddick, Playwriting
Phillip Christian Smith, Playwriting

The DGF Fellows program was founded in 2000 by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Janet Neipris, and Susan Miller, with leadership from Michael Korie over the past decade. They believed it was vital to put playwrights and musical theater writers in the same room to learn from each other’s different perspectives, to see how collaboration creates magic, and to foster community. The program's success has been proven by the careers of various dramatists and collaborations, including launching the careers of more than 200 writers. With alumni that include Pulitzer finalists, Tony nominees, and recipients of Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, Larson Awards, Kleban Awards, and Fred Ebb Awards, the DGF Fellows program is an opportunity to grow in community and professionally.

Fellows Alumni include Michael R. Jackson (Pulitzer Prize Winner, A Strange Loop), Antoinette Nwandu (Pass Over), Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band), Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Academy Award winner, Frozen), Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), and Benj Pasek & Justin Paul (Tony winners for Best Score, Dear Evan Hansen).

This program is made possible by funding from the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation and Jeffrey Seller Family Foundation. For more information on the DGF Fellows program, visit https://dgf.org/fellows.

To post a comment, you must register and login.