New London Barn Playhouse to Receive $10,000 Challenge America Award From NEA

The New London Barn Playhouse has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts for a Challenge America award of $10,000. This grant will support the creation of a new touring production for young audiences based on the children’s book Tommer’s Earthly Friends by Kathy Lowe, an artist and author based in New London. The show will be developed by local and professional artists throughout the year, and a finalized production will tour schools around the state in fall 2025. The NEA will award 272 Challenge America awards nationwide totaling $2,720,000 as part of the recent announcement of fiscal year 2025 grants.

“The NEA is proud to continue our nearly 60 years of supporting the efforts of organizations and artists that help to shape our country’s vibrant arts sector and communities of all types across our nation, ”said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD.
“It is inspiring to see the wide range of creative projects taking place, including New London Barn Playhouse’s development of Tommer’s Earthly Friends.”

“We are honored to receive such a competitive grant and feel thrilled that the NEA wants to help us make this local story accessible to children around New Hampshire,” said Sage Tokach, Barn Playhouse Education Director. “I think the story’s themes of friendship, creative expression, and the role of nature in our lives will be relatable to young people and will spark some important conversations.”

This project will become the Barn Playhouse’s third touring production, following a tour of Jason and the Argonauts in 2022 and The Snowy Day in 2024. This will be the first show fully created and developed by the Barn Playhouse. The story of Tommer’s Earthly Friends follows a young boy who sees the faces of characters in the nature settings around him. These characters come to life and become his friends, but one day, unexpected excavators change the shoreline and start making Tommer’s friends disappear. The creative team for the show will include Kathy Lowe and Barn Playhouse education staff members Sage
Tokach and Gavin King, as well as a guest playwright, musician, designer, and puppeteer. The team plans to partner with various community organizations to include nature and ecology workshops in tandem with performances.

“The New London Barn Playhouse is honored to receive the NEA Challenge America Grant, a testament to the growth and innovation that has now become the new standard for our organization. This support from the National Endowment for the Arts affirms the value of our efforts to make theatre and arts education accessible to our community. I am especially proud of the incredible leadership of our Director of Education, Sage Tokach, whose vision and dedication have been instrumental in expanding the reach and impact of our education programs. Through her work, we continue to inspire and engage students of all ages, creating opportunities that spark creativity, foster connection, and nurture the next generation of artists and arts lovers”, says Elliott Cunningham New London Barn Playhouse, Managing Director. 

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