Christina Masciotti, Grace McLean, and More Named Lincoln Center Theater's New Writers in Residence

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop) has invited five playwrights to join its New Writers in Residence Program. The program, which was established in 2016, supports LCT's ongoing effort to open its doors to the next generation of writers.

Spearheaded by LCT3 Artistic Director Evan Cabnet and Associate Director Natasha Sinha, the no strings-attached residency provides a home to new writers with the use of free office space and other resources to enable them to create, hone their craft, and continue their creative growth in New York City.

This year, LCT welcomes playwrights Jaclyn Backhaus, Michael R. Jackson, Christina Masciotti,Grace McLean, and Korde Arrington Tuttle to the program. They join last year's inaugural class of New Writers in Residence: Ngozi Anyanwu, Jocelyn Bioh, Sarah DeLappe, Olivia Dufault, Phillip Howze, Julia Jarcho, Jason Kim, and Jiehae Park.

Jaclyn Backhaus is a playwright and co-founder of Fresh Ground Pepper. Her play Men on Boats was a NYT Critics' Pick for its production in Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks, as well as a Kilroys play in 2015. It was remounted at Playwrights Horizons last year and will receive its Chicago premiere at ATC in 2017. Other works include People Doing Math Live! (Under The Radar Festival's Incoming! Series at The Public), The Incredible Fox Sisters (Live Source, The New Ohio), and You On The Moors Now (Theater Reconstruction Ensemble, The Hypocrites). She has received commissions from Playwrights Horizons and Ars Nova, and is the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Clubbed Thumb. Her work has been developed and showcased with the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Playwrights Horizons, The Public and Joe's Pub, The Ice Factory Festival, (not just) 3 New Plays, The Civilians' R&D Group, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ars Nova's ANT Fest, and The Falcons. She holds a BFA from NYU and hails from Phoenix, Arizona.

MICHAEL R. Jackson holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. As a songwriter, he has seen his work performed at NAMT, The 24 Hour Musicals, Barrington Stage Company, Merkin Hall, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Feinstein's/54 Below, The Triad, Ars Nova, Joe's Pub, the Metropolitan Room, The Bruno Walter Auditorium, and ACT in Seattle. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musical A Strange Loop. He wrote book and lyrics for the musical Only Children with composer Rachel Peters, book and lyrics for the musical adaptation of the 2007 horror film Teeth with composer and co-bookwriter Anna Jacobs, and is currently writing book, music, and lyrics for the new musicAl White Girl In Danger. He is an alum of The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed, the Ars Nova Uncharted writers group, and was a 2016 Sundance Theatre Institute Composer Fellow. He is a 2017 Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient, a 2017 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award winner, a 2016-2017 Dramatist Guild Fellow, and has been commissioned by University of the Arts and by LCT3.

CHRISTINA MASCIOTTI is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow in Drama and Performance Art and one of The New York Times' 2015 "Faces to Watch." Her most recent production, Raw Bacon from Poland, was a New York Times' Critics' Pick. Her earlier work includes Social Security (a five-star reviewed Time Out New YorkCritics' pick, cited as a Best Show of 2015), Adult (Time Out New York Critics' pick), Vision Disturbance(one of Time Out New York's Top Ten Shows of 2010). The original manuscripts for Adult and Vision Disturbance were also selected for preservation in the permanent archives of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and went on to be published by Broadway Play Publishing and anthologized by Smith and Kraus and Applause Theater and Cinema Books: Best Contemporary Monologues for Women (2014), The Best Women's Stage Monologues of 2016, and The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 2018.

Grace McLean, called "electrifying" by The Huffington Post and "phenomenal" by The New York Times, is a multi-hyphenate actress-singer-writer-teacher on the rise. In addition to performing (Broadway: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; Off-Broadway: Brooklynite, Bedbugs!!!, Sleep No More), Grace also makes time for her acclaimed original music with her band Grace McLean & Them Apples. The band performed in both the 2015 and 2016 Lincoln Center American Songbook series, and in April 2015, they toured Pakistan with the U.S. State Department. Grace's work has been developed at CAP21, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed, and The Orchard Project. Grace is the recipient of the 2017 Hunt Family Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and has been commissioned by LCT3.

KORDE ARRINGTON TUTTLE is a playwright hailing from Charlotte, NC. His work has been developed and seen at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Obie Award-winning The Fire This Time Festival, The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, the Obie Award-winning Harlem 9's 48 Hours... in Harlem, at The National Black Theatre, HomeBase Theatre Collective, The Movement Theater Company, The Each-Other Project, OnQ Productions, The New School's 2015 AfroFuturism Conference, and The Tenth Magazine, in collaboration with the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. Korde is a recipient of the Steinberg Playwriting Fellowship, and was selected as a finalist for both the 2017 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and The City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting contest. In 2016, his play clarity won the 41st Annual Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival, and appears in its successive anthology. Forthcoming this fall is his first collection of original poetry and photography with Candor Arts. Korde is a Middle Voice Theater Company member at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and received his MFA in playwriting at The New School.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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