Lortel Theatre Launches New Play Development Program - 'Alcove At The Lortel'

With the recent announcement of Lucille Lortel Theatre's purchase and renovation of a new theater space in Chelsea and its appointment of two new Co-Artistic Directors of New Work, Lucille Lortel Theatre has announced the launch of: The Alcove at the Lortel, a new play development program.

The Alcove at the Lortel is a multi-faceted approach to developing new plays by early and mid-career playwrights led and curated by Caridad Svich, Artistic Director of New Play Development. The play development process will start with the awarding of micro-commissions and will have additional elements including work sessions in conjunction with dramaturgs and readings. This new program allows playwrights the ability to workshop their creations with mentorship and the backing of an established theatre.

In April 2023, the first round of 10 micro-commissions were awarded to playwrights to nurture the creation and further development of new works for performance. These micro-commissions were awarded based on proposals sent in by playwrights invited to submit to the program. The awardees and their projects are curated by Svich and represent a wide range of thematic subject matter, intergenerational points of view, speak to and about aspects of global majority experience, and reflect experimentation. Each playwright is paired with a dramaturg for the commission period. A second round of 10 micro-commissions will be awarded in the fall of 2023.

Current awardees include Terence Antony, Mathilde Dratwa, Rudi Goblen, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Mildred Lewis, Dan O'Brien, Mónica Sánchez, ruth tang, Jesus I. Valles, and Calamity West. Participating dramaturgs include Emma Dorfman, Hannah Gellman, Elly Green, Sarah Rose Leonard, Adil Mansoor, Tatiana Pandiani, Christian Parker, Nick Ruizorvis, Arminda Thomas, and Sebastian Eddowes Vargas,

In addition to the micro-commissions awarded this spring, The Alcove at the Lortel will also be furthering the development of two additional emerging works with research, translation, and readings. Further support and development of additional new works will be ongoing through this program and announced at a later time.

The first of these will be research and development work sessions for the continued furthering of the translation of the new play Big Zoo by award winning Taiwanese playwright Wei Yu-Chia, translated by Jeremy Tiang, who will be working with director Nana Dakin. Big Zoo is the happiest place on earth! So how come the zebras are stampeding? Why is the weasel starting an insurrection? And what's going on with the secretive Zookeeper? In this surreal, high-octane fable, the absurdity of life inside Big Zoo illuminates the beliefs and systems we impose upon ourselves.

The Alcove at the Lortel will also present its first public-facing, live online reading on May 22nd at 7 PM ET of Red Sky at Night by Eve Leigh directed by Obie-winner Taylor Reynolds in collaboration with The Brick Theater in Brooklyn as part of the Brick's new digital reading series. Red Sky at Night is a haunting play about the immigrant experience written by US-born, UK-based writer Eve Leigh, one of the most exhilarating dramatists working internationally today. Leigh's works have been staged at The Royal Court Theatre, Sheffield Crucible, and at theatres in Europe and Asia. Taylor Reynolds directed the premiere of Dave Harris' Tambo & Bones at Playwrights Horizons, Will Arbery's Plano at Clubbed Thumb, and is currently in rehearsals with a show at The Vineyard. This reading will be the first time Leigh's work has been seen in New York City. To attend this FREE reading, please RSVP at: Lortel.org or www.BrickTheater.com.

"At a time when the theatre industry is struggling and in flux, The Alcove at the Lortel, a new play development program, is a place to seed dreams and innovative writing for performance. Whether you are an early-career or mid-career playwright, the fact remains that being supported and nurtured through a process of development and eventually production is vital. Every step along a play's journey matters. The Alcove at the Lortel can be the first step toward the realization and making of a body of new works for performance reflective of the breadth and depth of artistry and perspectives in the national and global theatre realm. Our goal is simple: support artists on their respective trajectories and honor the resiliency it takes to create art at all times," said Caridad Svich, Artistic Director of New Play Development. 

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