Page 73 Announces Semifinalists For 2020 Playwriting Fellowship

Page 73 has announced twelve semifinalists for the 2020 Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship.

Selected from more than 400 applicants, the largest application pool to date, the twelve semifinalists are Bleu Beckford-Burrell, Serena Berman, Sarah Bernstein, Marisa Carr, Vichet Chum, Emma Goidel, Marvin González De León, Morgan Gould, Amina Henry, Stefani Kuo, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, and juliany taveras.

Finalists and the Fellowship recipient will be announced in January 2020. Page 73 will also announce members for the 2020 Interstate 73 Writers Group in January.

Now in its 17th year, the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship is the company's most prestigious award, annually supporting a playwright who has yet to have a professional premiere in New York City. Past recipients include Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee Heidi Schreck, and Obie winners Clare Barron and Kirsten Greenidge. The 2019 Playwriting Fellow is Sanaz Toossi. Each Fellow receives an honorarium of $10,000, and an additional $10,000 in development support from Page 73, which can be personalized to support the Fellow's proposed project and can include such expenses as research, workshop and reading presentations, and fees for collaborating artists. Each Fellow works with Page 73 on at least one public presentation of the new play, including identifying artistic collaborators like directors, designers, and actors.

Applications for Page 73's 2021 development programs will be available online in January 2020. There is no fee to apply.

Page 73 is now in its 21st year producing and supporting the most talented early-career playwrights and introducing them to New York audiences by producing their professional debuts in the city. Past premieres include the work of Pulitzer Prize-winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, Samuel D. Hunter, Clare Barron and Leah Nanako Winkler among many more. Page 73's 2018-19 season included the world premiere of Mia Chung's CATCH AS CATCH CAN directed by Ken Rus Schmoll (Judy, Grounded) which earned a five-star review from Time Out New York and was subsequently named one of their Top 10 Productions of 2018. In May, Page 73, in partnership with Playwrights Horizons, co-produced the groundbreaking new musical A STRANGE LOOP, with music, book, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson. Directed by Stephen Brackett (Be More Chill, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief), the premiere earned "Critics Pick" ratings from Ben Brantley of The New York Times and Helen Shaw of Time Out New York. Page 73 also co-produced the original Off-Broadway cast recording that was released this fall.

Prior Page 73 seasons have included world and New York premieres of Leah Nanako Winkler's KENTUCKY, directed by Morgan Gould; Max Posner's JUDY, directed by two-time Obie Award-winner Ken Rus Schmoll; Clare Barron's critically acclaimed YOU GOT OLDER, which received awards for Playwright, Direction (Anne Kauffman), and Performance (Brooke Bloom) at the 2015 Obies, and Drama Desk nominations for Barron, Kauffman, Bloom and co-star Reed Birney; the first New York City production of George Brant's critically acclaimed GROUNDED, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll and starring Drama Desk nominee Hannah Cabell; and Cori Thomas' WHEN JANUARY FEELS LIKE SUMMER, directed by Daniella Topol. Page 73 has also co-produced with renowned new play theaters including Soho Rep, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, and Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Page 73 serves twelve to fifteen early career playwrights annually through its professional productions and new play development programs, which include the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship, Interstate 73 Writers Group, and a week-long Summer Residency.

Close to two-thirds of the over 125 playwrights supported by Page 73 have subsequently received New York or regional theatre productions. These include, among others, writers whose professional debuts in New York City were produced by Page 73, such as Samuel D. Hunter (2015 MacArthur "Genius" Grant), Quiara Alegría Hudes (2012 Pulitzer Prize), Dan LeFranc (2010 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award), Heidi Schreck (2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Tony Award Nominee), and Clare Barron (2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist).

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.page73.org

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