Page 73 Productions Names C.A. Johnson The 2018 P73 Playwriting Fellow

PAGE 73 PRODUCTIONS (Page 73) (Michael Walkup, Producing Artistic Director; Jenny Lagundino, Managing Director; Liz Jones and Asher Richelli, Founding Directors) has named C.A. Johnson the 2018 P73 Playwriting Fellow. Selected from over 400 applicants, Johnson will receive a $10,000 award and additional $10,000 budgeted for developing several new plays over the course of the year.

"C.A. Johnson's Fellowship year with Page 73 will be a total joy as she is a remarkable playwright who I am proud to add to the roster of P73 Fellows," said Page 73's Producing Artistic Director, Michael Walkup, adding, "C.A.'s broad theatrical interests have resulted in an early body of work containing many genres and subjects. The common thread I applaud is the abundant empathy C.A. holds for every character she writes. Her stories pull you in for showing intricate and carefully wrought conflicts among disparate people, and she'll hit you with a surprising shift or conclusion that sticks in your heart and mind long after the play ends."

Now in its 15th year, the P73 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, Obie winners Kirsten Greenidge, Heidi Schreck, and Clare Barron, and most recently John J. Caswell, Jr.

This February, Page 73 will also produce a "Page 2" Staged Reading, a program which provides extraordinary resources to one project in development. Michael R. Jackson will spend three weeks developing his musical A Strange Loop with a cast of seven and director Stephen Brackett (Ultimate Beauty Bible) and Musical Director Matt Castle (Company), with movement by Raja Feather Kelly (Everybody). This staged reading is produced in association with Musical Theatre Factory. Prior Page 2 projects include Seth Bockley's CommComm and Carlos Murillo's A Thick Description of Harry Smith, Vol. I.

Page 73 has also named playwrights Eleanor Burgess, Emily Feldman, Amina Henry, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Daniel K. Isaac, Michael R. Jackson, Gordon Leary, Julia Meinwald, and Gary Winter as members of the 2018 Interstate 73 Writers Group, which offers writers a year of bimonthly meetings to share new pages of works-in-progress. Each writer receives a stipend and will also have a reading during Page 73's 2018-19 season.

Page 73 will also support L. Feldman, Gina Femia and C. A. Johnson at their 13th annual Summer Residency, which provides concentrated time for writing retreats and for early-process workshops outside of the city. A fourth recipient will be announced at a later date.

Page 73 is celebrating its 20th year producing and supporting the most talented early-career playwrights and introducing them to New York audiences by producing their professional Off-Broadway debuts in the city. Most recently, Page 73 produced the world premiere of Susan Soon He Stanton's TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY, directed by Kip Fagan. Page 73's 2016-17 season included the world premieres of Caroline V. McGraw's ULTIMATE BEAUTY BIBLE, directed by Stephen Brackett, and Basil Kreimendahl's ORANGE JULIUS, directed by Dustin Wills. Their season also fostered the work of Hansol Jung and John J. Caswell, Jr. through the prestigious P73 Playwriting Fellowship, now in its 15th year of singling out exceptional talent.

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 was recognized at the 2015 Obies with awards for Playwright, Performance (Brooke Bloom), and Direction (Anne Kauffman) - each artist was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award, along with co-star and Tony Award winner 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. They have co-produced from time to time with such renowned new play theaters as Soho Rep, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Today, Page 73 annually serves twelve to fifteen early career playwrights through its productions and development programs. Each year, Page 73 produces New York City or world premieres by early-career playwrights and offers a slate of new play development programs: the P73 Playwriting Fellowship, Interstate 73 writers group, and a week-long Summer Residency.

Close to two-thirds of the over 100 playwrights they've supported have enjoyed New York or regional theatre productions after receiving a Page 73 premiere or development support. 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 (2014 Tow Playwright in Residence at Playwrights Horizons), and Clare Barron (2015 Obie Award).

C. A. JOHNSON hails from Metairie Louisiana, but currently lives and writes in Queens. Her plays include Mother Tongue, The Climb, An American Feast, Waitin' On The Moon, Elroy Learn His Name, and Thirst (2017 Kilroys List, PlayPenn Conference). She is a member of the 2017 Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm and a Core Writer at the Playwrights Center. She was previously The Lark's 2016-17 Van Lier Playwriting Fellow, a 2016-2017 Dramatists Guild Fellow, and a member of The Civilians R&D Group. Her work has been developed with The Lark, Open Bar Theatricals, UC San Diego, The Dennis and Victoria Ross Foundation, and The Fire This Time Festival. Most recently, C.A.'s play An American Feast was developed with The Civilians and received a workshop production at Playwrights Horizons Theater School. BA: Smith College MFA: NYU. www.cajohnson.info/

MICHAEL R. Jackson holds a BFA and MFA in playwriting and Musical Theatre Writing from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He wrote book, music, and lyrics for the musical A Strange Loop and White Girl In Danger. He is an alum of the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony, the Ars Nova Uncharted Writers Group, and is a Sundance Theatre Institute Composer Fellow. He is 2017 Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient, a 2017 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award Winner, a 2016-2017 Dramatist Guild Fellow, the 2017 Williamstown Theatre Festival Playwright-In-Residence, and has commissions from UARTS and LCT3.

Eleanor Burgess's plays include The Niceties (Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Portland Stage), Chill (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Start Down (ALLIANCE THEATRE, Centenary Stage Company), and These Dying Generations. She is currently a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop and a member of The Civilians R&D Group, and has also been a playwriting fellow at Huntington Theatre Company and the recipient of an EST/Sloan Commission. She grew up in Massachusetts, studied history at Yale College, and completed the M.F.A in Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch. www.eleanorburgess.com

Emily Feldman's work has been developed by The Playwrights' Center, Colt Coeur, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Magic Theatre, The ALLIANCE THEATRE, Roundabout Theatre Company, and The Playwrights Realm. Emily was a 2016 Alliance/Kendeda finalist and a 2017 Winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at The Atlantic Center for the Arts, a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference and is a member of The Working Farm at SPACE on Ryder Farm. Emily is the 2017/2018 Shank Playwright- in-Residence at Playwrights Horizons and a recent Jerome Fellow and Core Apprentice at The Playwrights' Center. MFA in playwriting: UC San Diego. BA: Middlebury College.

AMINA HENRY is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Productions include: Ducklings at JACK, The Animals at JACK (developed with The Brooklyn Generator), Happily Ever at Brooklyn College, An American Family Takes a Lover at Theater for the New City, Water produced by Drama of Works and The Minstrel Show, produced as part of the 2013 Bring a Weasel and a Pint of Your Own Blood Festival at 13th Street Theater/CSC (NYC). Her work has been developed by and/or presented at: The New Group, The Flea, Clubbed Thumb, National Black Theater, Barefoot Theater, Little Theater at Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, OR), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX) and Interrobang Theatre (Baltimore, MD), among others. She has been a participant in Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writers, Page 73's Interstate 73 writers group and is currently a member of Ars Nova's emerging writers group. She is also a recipient of an Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Space Grant. For somewhat up-to-date information, go to aminahenry.wordpress.com.

Darrel Alejandro Holnes's plays have won him various awards including the Best New Play award from Wichita State University, the Farrar Prize in Playwriting at the University of Michigan and various grants including a Kitchen Theater Company New Play Development Grant and an Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Production Grant. They have been presented as part of the Kennedy Center for the Arts College Theater Festival and the NOW African Playwrights Festival. His play Trigger was a recent finalist for the Princess Grace Award, his play Starry Night was a recent finalist for the Van Lier Fellowship from The Lark Play Development Center, and his other plays have been developed in residency at the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the MFA Convening Residency at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and elsewhere. He has presented work at the National Black Theater, Second Stage Theater, Kitchen Theater Company, and elsewhere nationwide. He is also a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, the Musical Theatre Factory's POC Roundtable, the Stillwater Writers Workshop, Page 73's Interstate 73 writers' group, and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and Playwriting at Medgar Evers College and teaches playwriting at New York University. Follow him @blackboytraveljoy and learn more.

Daniel K. Isaac is an actor and writer based in New York City. You can currently see him on the small screen as 'Ben Kim' in Showtime's "Billions." Daniel co-wrote and stars in "According To My Mother" which was awarded the NYTVF Best Drama & Best Actor, and further developed at the Inaugural Sundance New Voices Lab. www.AccordingToMyMother.com Daniel is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood and a Lambda Literary Playwriting Fellow. Finalist: Van Lier New Voices Fellowship and Van Lier Fellowship in Acting. Training: UCSD, BADA. www.DanielKIsaac.com

Gordon Leary is a Brooklyn-based bookwriter and lyricist. Musicals with composer Julia Meinwald include The Loneliest Girl In the World (2018 Diversionary Theatre), REB+VoDKa+ME (2017 Yale Institute), The Magnificent Seven (2016 Dixon Place), Something Blue (2014 NYTB), and Pregnancy Pact (2012 Weston Playhouse). Other musicals include Cheer Wars (2009 Richard Rodgers Award; Karlan Judd, composer) and Across the River (2013 Seoul Musical Festival; Hyun Rim Kim, composer). Gordon has developed work with the Dramatists Guild Fellows, NAMT, Ars Nova's Uncharted, The Civilians' R&D Group, Fresh Ground Pepper's Playground Playgroup, Musical Theatre Factory, and the 92Y Musical Theatre Development Lab. BA: Vassar. MFA: NYU GMTWP.

Julia Meinwald's musicals include Pregnancy Pact, The Loneliest Girl in the World, REB+VoDKa+ME, The Magnificent Seven, Something Blue and Elevator Heart. She and her collaborator Gordon Leary write aggressively empathetic shows that help them understand completely foreign points of view, like Anita Bryant's anti-gay-rights crusade, online fan communities that formed around high school shooters, and groups of teenage girls who decide to get pregnant together. Julia's work has been produced at the Weston Playhouse and Diversionary Theatre, and developed through awesome groups like Ars Nova, The Civilians, Fresh Ground Pepper, the Dramatists Guild, 92Y, and exciting acronyms like MTF, NAMT, NYMF, and YIMT. www.juliameinwald.com.

Gary Winter was a member of OBIE-Award winning 13P. His plays have been produced at the Actor's Theatre of Louisville (2015 Heideman Award), P.S. 122, The Brick, The Flea, The Chocolate Factory, Defunkt Theater, HERE, Beth Soll Dance Co., and the Cherry Lane Alternative. Support from The New Group, Playwrights Horizons. JPP, EST, MacDowell, YADDO. Gary received a Spielberg Righteous Person's Fellowship to study Eastern European Jewry in Krakow, Poland. Currently Gary works with the Petey Greene program tutoring incarcerated youths awaiting trial. Sometimes he goes fly fishing, MFA-NYU.

L. FELDMAN is a playwright, deviser, professor, and a circus performer and dramaturg. Plays: Thrive; Another Kind Of Silence; Amanuensis; The Egg-Layers; A People; Grace, Or The Art Of Climbing. She has been nominated for the Wendy Wasserstein Prize, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award, New York Innovative Theatre Award, and the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. A proud member of Orbiter 3, she's based in Philadelphia. www.laurenfeldman.com

GINA FEMIA's plays have been developed/presented at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, New Georges, Dixon Place, and Pipeline Theatre. She is an alum of EST/Youngblood, a member of Lather, Rinse, Repeat, New Georges Affiliated Artist, & New York Madness Company Member. She's received residencies with NTI at the O'Neill, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Fresh Ground Pepper and has been nominated for the Kilroys List, the Doric Wilson Award and Cherry Lane Theatre Mentor Project. www.femiagina.com

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