This two-tiered grant program offers $20,000 grants to playwrights for new, unproduced plays, with an additional $20,000 to producers.
LA NEW PLAY PROJECT (LANPP) announces its second year of financial support for original work presented in Los Angeles' small and midsize theaters. This two-tiered grant program offers $20,000 grants to playwrights for new, unproduced plays, with an additional $20,000 to producers to help support the play's world premiere production. The funding is intended to award excellence in playwriting, encourage the production of new and untried plays on the smaller stages of Los Angeles, and help stabilize theatrical productions that originate here but that may resonate beyond the borders of Los Angeles County.
Producers in partnership with playwrights are invited to submit new scripts that are under consideration for production. A distinguished peer panel selects one-to-three projects for the award.
Winners of the 2021 grants include Playwright Carolyn Ratteray for Both And...A Play About Laughing While Black (running April 7 - May 15, 2022) produced by Boston Court Pasadena, Carla Ching for Revenge Porn to be produced by Ammunition Theatre, and Josh Wilder for The Hands That Could to be produced by Watts Village Theater Company.
The Los Angeles New Play Project grant is the brainchild of producers Paula Holt and Nathan Birnbaum. The project is administered in partnership with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the UCLA Foundation, and is funded by a generous benefactor who has asked to remain anonymous.
"We are passionately invested in the fact that live theater will not just come back, but will come roaring back and flourish as we process what we've been missing - shared experiences, physical proximity, and stories that shape our lives," says Director Paula Holt. "We will accept original writing submissions this April, and plan to announce the second grant recipients of writing awards in September of 2022."
Paula Holt, Director, has worked in the Los Angeles theater community for three decades, having created, managed, and produced at the storied Tiffany Theaters, one of the pre-eminent intimate theaters in Los Angeles. She chaired the boards for both LA Stage Alliance and Rogue Machine Theatre, and served on the boards of The Antaeus Company and USC's School of Dramatic Arts. Paula served the City of Los Angeles as a Cultural Affairs Commissioner for both Mayors Hahn and Villaraigosa.
Nathan Birnbaum, Associate Director, served on the staff of Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater Projects as a producer of new work development programs and has worked on about 100 new play productions and workshops at the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Rep, Trinity Rep, Seattle Rep, Harold Prince Music Theater Workshop, and other groups. He currently serves as Administrator for Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, and is a produced playwright and lyricist.
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, ranked as one of the top entertainment and performing arts institutions in the world, offers an innovative curriculum leading to both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Brian Kite, Interim Dean.
More information on grant guidelines for submissions: http://lanpp.org/grant-guidelines-and-application/
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