Photos: Shaina Taub and More Join The Dramatists Guild's Candela Playwrights Summer Fellowship

The Candela Playwrights Summer Fellowship, held at the Dramatists Guild of America in New York City from July 14-19, 2024, graduated eighteen artists who successfully completed this year’s program dedicated to development of playwrights, book writers, and lyricists – all with heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean. See photos from their visit below. 

Broadway trailblazers David Henry Hwang, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Kristoffer Diaz, Michael R. Jackson, Daphnie Rubin-Vega, Aurin Squire, and more served as faculty for the intense 5-day program. Fellows focused on a variety of classes including writing workshops, craft classes, business of playwriting, and received feedback from musical theater writers, Jaime Lozano and Joey Contreras.

The 2024 Candela graduates are: Phanesia Pharel, Samora la Perdida, Rosarito Rodriguez, Ryan Oliveira, Kan Khristián, Nataylia Nat, Rebbekah Vega-Romero, Alex Miranda, Carissa Atallah, Phillip Gregory Burke, Maya Malan-Gonzalez, Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, Joshua Jean-Baptiste, Demian Chavez, R. Réal Vargas Alanis, Julio Hanson, Dionne Verwey, and Jessica Carmona.

Founded by playwright/director and college professor Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Candela is an initiative dedicated to lighting the way to high-quality theater education for emerging playwrights, book writers, and lyricists with Latin American and Caribbean heritage. This year's Candela Fellows represented the US, US-Mexico Border, Suriname, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Trinidad, the Bahamas, El Salvador, Guatemala, and speak Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Kreyol/Haitian Creole. Dr. Daphnie Sicre co-directed the program alongside Holnes this year.

In addition to working on developing their craft, the Candela Fellows enjoyed backstage tours, meet and greets and seeing the work of their colleagues around the City including: Titanique, Hell’s Kitchen, and Suffs. They also journeyed to the New York Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center to explore the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT) with special guest, the legendary dramaturg and producer Ira Weitzman.

The 2024 Candela Playwrights Summer Fellowship was made possible by partners and co-sponsors which include: the Dramatists Guild of America, Latinx Theater Commons, The Sol Project, Robleswrites, Repertorio Español, New York City Center, New York Theater Workshop, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, New York University's Graduate Musical Theater Program, New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University's Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, New York University's Liberal Studies, and the City University of New York: Medgar Evers College.

Plans for the 2025 Candela Playwrights Fellowship are already underway. Interested applicants should follow updates on candelafellows.com 

Photo Credit: Carl Matthew

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