June Carryl Is 2022 Recipient Of IAMA's Shonda Rhimes-Sponsored 'Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission'

IAMA Theatre Company has selected June Carryl as the 2022 recipient of the company's annual Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission. Sponsored by award-winning writer and producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Scandal), the commission, now in its fifth year, was created to help grow and nourish budding playwrights and artists with emphasis on cultural inclusion and the goal to showcase fresh, creative, thought-provoking work.

"June has been a long admired artist in the L.A. theater community," says IAMA artistic director Stefanie Black. "As a celebrated actor, director and now playwright, we are so lucky to be able to support her at this wonderful stage of her career. June has a very special voice that IAMA is honored to be able to share with the world."

June Carryl grew up in Denver and studied political science and English literature at Brown University. Her new play N*GGA B*TCH was developed for the Vagrancy's Blossoming Projects, then received a reading as part of Boston Court Theater's 17th annual New Plays Festival. Additional plays include The Good Minister from Harare, (as The Good Minister from Kunyarara, Res Theater; Playwrights Arena Summer Series, ADAA Saroyan/Paul Award); Consortium (Lower Depths Theatre Ensemble BIPOC Vote Plays); Tow (Coeurage Theatre's Nomad Project); The Life and Death of (Vagrancy Theatre); Colossus (semi-finalist, O'Neill National Playwrights Conference); Boom (semi-finalist, O'Neill National Playwrights Conference); and Stone Angels (finalist, the Killroys). Part one of her collaboration with composer Jason Barabba about Aunt Jemima premiered as part of Overtone Industries inaugural Original Vision opera development series. As an actor, Carryl's favorite theater roles include Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret at Celebration Theatre (Ovation nomination for best featured actress) and Gerty Fail in Failure: A Love Story at Coeurage Theatre (Ovation nomination for best ensemble). She can currently be seen on Mindhunter (Netflix) and Helstrom (Hulu).

IAMA has been dedicated to developing plays and musicals by new, emerging and established playwrights since 2007. Rhimes, a frequent IAMA audience member, came on board in March 2017 as the company's first-ever "Patron of the Arts," committing funds for the commission through her Rhimes Family Foundation.

Founded in 2007, IAMA is a Los Angeles-based ensemble of artists committed to the creation and cultivation of new voices and artists that challenge boundaries and take risks, while fostering an inclusive community that inspires theater-makers of future generations. Los Angeles is one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the world and IAMA's work reflects the new voices and changing attitudes that continue to shape this city, state, country and world. Designated by Playbill as "one of 20 regional houses every theater lover must know," the award-winning company has seen many plays generated at IAMA travel to off-Broadway, including to Second Stage and Playwrights Horizons, then go on to be performed regionally and internationally. IAMA members have been featured in numerous critically acclaimed TV shows and films as well as in a vast array of theater and live performances on and off-Broadway and across the country. IAMA has been dedicated to developing new plays and musicals by emerging and established playwrights, culminating in over 25 world, West Coast and Los Angeles premieres.

The Rhimes Family Foundation was established in 2016 by writer/producer Shonda Rhimes and her family. The foundation was created to support arts, education and activism with a focus on promoting cultural inclusion and fighting inequality.

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