Appalachian Center For The Arts Announces 2024-2025 Vitality New Play Commissions

The Appalachian Center for the Arts has announced its 2024-2025 Vitality New Play Commissions. Five nationally-recognized playwrights are writing new plays for The App's Vitality Touring Theatre Company, which presents plays and musicals on health and wellness topics for elementary school through adult audiences. The commissioned topics include self-confidence (grades K-5), cyberbullying (grades 5-8), anti-smoking/vaping (grades 6-8), opioid addiction (grades 9-12), and risky behaviors and red flags in youth relationships (grades 9-12).

The App selected the following four playwrights from a pool of 55 submissions:

Steve Moulds is writing The Adventures of Galaxy Girl, a play about Self-Confidence, for grades K-5. Moulds was previously commissioned by the City of Pikeville to write The Miracle of Flight, a short play about pioneer aviator John Paul Riddle, which is being performed as part of Spirits of Pikeville Past to celebrate Pikeville's Bicentennial Year. Moulds has been a Jerome Fellow at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, a National New Play Network Playwright in Residence at Curious Theatre Company, a Fred Coe Playwright in Residence at Vanderbilt University, a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, and an Al Smith Fellow through the Kentucky Arts Council. His plays have been developed by The Inkwell, Performance Network Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, and the Lark, and published by Playscripts, Samuel French, and Smith and Kraus. He has previous and ongoing commissions with Creede Repertory Theatre's The KID Show and Kentucky Shakespeare, among others. He is an ongoing Playwright in Residence at Theatre [502] in Louisville, Kentucky, where he is based.

Bailey Jordan Garcia is writing a play on Smoking/Vaping for grades 6-8. Garcia has been a winner of The Blank Theatre's Young Playwrights Festival, won Best Play at The Players Theatre Short Play Festival, and received 4 People's Choice Awards with PlayGround-NY and -LA. They have worked with The Bechdel Group, Atlantic Acting Studio, Bite Sized Theatrics, Boston Theatre Company, Cry Havoc, Ohio University, and others. They are currently part of PlayGround-One's residency program and are the co-founder of Fresh Binder Productions. They are based in Brooklyn, NY.

Regan Moro is writing a play on Opioid Addiction for grades 9-12, tentatively titled The Zero Point. Moro's play burn for You was recently selected as a Finalist for the 2024 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. She has acted in and developed plays at Actors Theater of Louisville (where she spent a year as an apprentice), The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, La Jolla Playhouse, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre Center, Syracuse Stage, New Georges, among others, and has been a member of Primary Stages' Echoes Writers Group. She can be seen alongside Jeremy Strong in season 3, episode 3 of HBO's Succession. Originally from the North Country, she is now based in Brooklyn, NY.

Jessica Moss is writing CRUSHED, a play for grades 9-12 focusing on Red Flags in Relationships for teenagers, a theme she has explored in previous work with youth. She has won the Lanford Wilson Award, Leah Ryan Prize for Emerging Women Writers, and Neukom Institute Literary Award, among others, and has been an O'Neill Finalist. She received South Coast Rep's Elizabeth George Commission, is a member of ThinkTank for Theatrical Innovation, and was the Lila Acheson Wallace Fellow at The Juilliard School, where she studied under Christopher Durang, Marsha Norman, and David Lindsay-Abaire. Her plays have been produced by Chimera Ensemble, Contemporary Theatre of Ohio, and Red Bull Theatre, among others. Based in NYC, she hails from Toronto, Ontario.

These four writers join Brian David Walker, whose play The Challenge, previously commissioned by The App, focuses on Cyberbullying for grades 6-8. Walker is the former Kentucky Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild and co-founder of Derby City Playwrights, a new play development lab for Louisville playwrights. He has won the Roots of the Bluegrass New Play Award and been a finalist or semi-finalist for the O'Neill, PlayPenn, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and Orlando Shakes' PlayFest. His plays have been developed at Walking Shadow Reader's Theatre, Cincinnati Lab Theatre, The Bard's Town, Actors Workshop Louisville, Theatre [502], UP Theatre Company, Capital Stage's Playwrights Revolution, Nashville Repertory Theatre, Last Frontier Theatre Festival, and Great Plains Playwrights Conference.

The Challenge was revised with input from local eastern Kentucky middle school students, who participated as actors in a read-through of the draft-in-progress and were able to share their feedback directly with the playwright. Similar read-throughs and playwright conversations involving local students are planned for all of the commissioned scripts.

The Challenge and Galaxy Girl are both currently available for booking during the 2024-2025 academic year as part of The App's Vitality Theatre Touring Company, which brings shows on health and wellness topics to elementary schools through colleges/universities across Kentucky. The remaining commissions are expected to be available in 2025. The full 2024-2025 Vitality touring season can be found at https://theapparts.org/vitality-theatre-touring-company/.

"We are excited to work with these extraordinary writers," says Dr. Christian Matson, The App's Tour Coordinator. "We had over 50 playwrights submit from both Kentucky and across the country, so we were really spoiled for choice. More than a dozen writers were selected to pitch ideas for the various topics, which were determined in conversation with local health directors and teachers. The commissioned writers each presented the most dynamic, detailed, and interesting takes on their chosen topics, out of a pool of very strong contenders. We are looking forward to bringing world-class new work to our students here in eastern Kentucky, who will get to experience world premieres of plays written especially for them."

"The App's Vitality Theatre Touring Company aims to offer shows that are not only educational but present themes and messages on topics of physical and mental health awareness in an empathetic way," says Shannon Kirkpatrick-Daniels, The App's Executive Director. "Our goal is to encourage conversation among our audiences, young and old. We believe that through communication and understanding, we can bring awareness to issues that are facing the students of our region and in doing so, inspire them to be their best selves. I am thrilled to work with these talented playwrights who will help us in furthering the tour's mission. It is a true honor for The App to present their work to the students in our community and beyond."

After the discontinuation of the grant that previously funded free performances of Vitality shows for local schools, The App is developing a subsidy fund to help bring these shows to eastern Kentucky schools at a pay-what-you-can rate. Businesses, nonprofit organizations, and individuals wishing to sponsor performances for a particular school or county, or simply contribute to the subsidy fund, are encouraged to contact the Tour Coordinator at tours@theapparts.org. All sponsors will be recognized for their contribution.

Founded in 2019, the Appalachian Center for the Arts is a dynamic space for theater, music, visual arts, and community enrichment in downtown Pikeville, KY. Its mission is to create a thriving regional arts hub in Pikeville by championing, cultivating, and presenting the stories of our town, our region, and our world. https://theapparts.org/

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