NAMT Announces Recipients for 2022/2023 Frank Young Fund for New Musicals Writers Residency Grants

​The National Alliance for Musical Theatre has announced the Award Recipients for the 2022/2023 Writers Residency Grants. The Writers Residency Grants are part of the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals, a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals.

"We are thrilled to announce this funding for our Member Organizations that celebrates their commitment to the development of new musicals," says Betsy King Militello. "We are constantly amazed by the quality and range of the work coming from our members, and the Writers Residency Grants support the cultivation of those vital collaborations between Writers and Producers at an early stage. We can't wait to welcome these projects and artists to the NAMT community and to help provide a foundation for their future growth."

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has awarded each of the following member organizations $500 to $2,000 for Writers Residency Grants for the 2022/2023 Cycles:

Ars Nova (New York, NY) for Travels by James Harrison Monaco

Diversionary Theatre (San Diego, CA) for Queer. People. Time. by EllaRose Chary & Brandon James Gwinn

East West Players (Los Angeles, CA) for Proud Mary's by Jennifer Paz

Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam, CT) for Little Miss Perfect by Joriah Kwamé

Playwrights Horizons (New York, NY) for Black Girl in Paris by AriDy Nox & Jacinth Greywoode

Seattle Rep (Seattle, WA) for + (BIRD + CRAB) by Jessica Huang, Fernando Diaz and Florencia Iriondo

Theater Latté Da (Minneapolis, MN) for The Legend of La Llorona: A Zarzuela of La Frontera by Celeste Moreno

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (Palo Alto, CA) for How to Build a Revolution by Lynn Rosen, Pia Wilson and Paula Cole

The next application cycle for the Writers Residency Grants will open May 2nd, 2023, for projects slated to take place between July 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023. For more information, visit namt.org/wrg. Applicants must be U.S.-based NAMT member not-for-profit theatre organizations. For more information on membership, visit namt.org/membership.

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals

is overseen by NAMT New Works Director Frankie Dailey, and the recommended Grant Recipients for the Writers Residency Grants are selected by the New Works Committee, a distinguished panel of industry leaders from across the country. The 2022/2023 New Works Committee is co-chaired by Eric Keen-Louie of La Jolla Playhouse (CA) and Aislinn Frantz of Chicago Shakespeare Theater (IL). Committee members include Carlos Armesto, Theatre C (NY); Margot Astrachan, Margot Astrachan Production (NY); Victoria Bussert, Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music (OH); Snehal Desai, East West Players (CA); Brandon Ivie, Village Theatre (WA); Elizabeth Kensek, WaterTower Theatre (TX); Tom Morrissey, Theatre Now New York (NY); and Aaron Thielen, Broadway Across Borders (IL).

The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has provided over $750,000 of funding to new musicals over the last 14 years, including A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson (NAMT Fest '19) at Playwrights Horizons; Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian (NAMT Fest '22) at Ars Nova; Eight-Sixed by Sam Salmond and Jeremy J. King at Diversionary Theatre; Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori at both Center Theatre Group and The Public Theater; Renascence by Dick Scanlan (NAMT Fest '96) and Carmel Dean at Transport Theatre Group; The Band's Visit by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses (NAMT Fest '12) at Atlantic Theater Company; When We're Gone (fka Mortality Play, NAMT Fest '16) by Alana Jacoby and Scotty Arnold at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma; Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs (NAMT Fests '98 & '12) at Playwrights Horizons and Dallas Theater Center; Ordinary Days (NAMT Fest '08) by Adam Gwon (NAMT Fests '08, '11 & '14) at Adirondack Theatre Festival; Far From Heaven by Michael Korie, Scott Frankel and Richard Greenberg at Playwrights Horizons; The Circus in Winter (NAMT Fest '12) by Ben Clark, Hunter Foster and Beth Turcotte at Goodspeed Musicals; and Southern Comfort (NAMT Fest '12) by Julianne Wick Davis (NAMT Fests '12 & '19) and Dan Collins (NAMT Fest '12) at all three grant levels, at Playwrights Horizons, CAP21 and Barrington Stage Company; among many others.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre

founded in 1985, is a not-for-profit organization serving the musical theatre community. Its mission is to be a catalyst for nurturing musical theatre development, production, innovation and collaboration. Their 220+ members, located throughout 33 states and abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world and include theatres, developmental organizations, higher education groups, presenting companies and independent producers. Among the almost 300 musicals launched by NAMT's Festival of New Musicals are Benny & Joon, Come From Away, Darling Grenadine, The Drowsy Chaperone, Gun & Powder, HONK!, Interstate, It Shoulda Been You, Lempicka, Ordinary Days, Striking 12 and Thoroughly Modern Millie.

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