Sanaz Toossi Named Recipient of Manhattan Theatre Club's Judith Champion Playwriting Fellowship for 2023-2024

Pulitzer Prize winner Sanaz Toossi has been named the 2023-2024 recipient of the Judith Champion Playwriting Fellowship, which is awarded by MTC annually. Fully supported by the late Judith Champion, philanthropist and former MTC Patron, the Fellowship provides artistic and financial resources to one playwright each season to write and develop a new commissioned play while in residence at MTC. Fellowship recipients participate in the life of the institution in a manner tailored to their strengths and interests. In addition to a commission, the recipient is provided with a living allowance, access to office and rehearsal space, a ticket stipend, and a developmental workshop of at least one play during their fellowship year. Toossi succeeds the inaugural, 2022-23 Fellow, Zora Howard.
 
MTC Artistic Director Lynne Meadow said, “Judith Champion was a passionate believer in the power of the arts who wanted to make it possible for the most talented writers in the theatre to continue to practice their craft and to have their voices heard. Her generosity will have a lasting impact on the American theatre and all of us at MTC are grateful to be able to play a part in that.”
 
“We are thrilled to be deepening our relationship with the exceptionally gifted Sanaz Toossi through the Judith Champion Playwriting Fellowship,” said Scott Kaplan, MTC’s Director of Play Development. “We have the deepest admiration for Sanaz’s artistry and are over the moon to be collaborating with her during the second year of this vital program.”
  

Sanaz Toossi

is an Iranian-American playwright from Orange County, California. Her plays include the critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning English (co-production Atlantic Theater Company/Roundabout Theatre Company) and Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons; Williamstown/Audible, released 2020). She is currently under commission at Atlantic Theater Company (Launch commission; Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation grant), Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Repertory, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (American Revolutions Cycle). In television, Sanaz recently staffed on “Invitation to a Bonfire” (AMC); “A League of Their Own” (Amazon); “Five Women” (Marielle Heller/ Big Beach); and sold an original idea, “The Persians,” to FX with Joe Weisberg & Joel Fields attached as Executive Producers. Sanaz is a member of Youngblood and the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at the Lark, and an alum of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group. She was the 2019 P73 Playwriting Fellow, a recipient of the 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award, the 2022 recipient of The Horton Foote Award and, most recently, the 2023 recipient of the Best New American Play Obie Award. MFA: NYU Tisch
 

ABOUT MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB

The 2022-23 season marked Lynne Meadow’s 50th Anniversary as Artistic Director of MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB. Meadow was joined in summer 2023 by Chris Jennings, MTC’s new Executive Director. MTC’s mission, which Meadow created in 1972 and has implemented over five decades of award-winning theatrical productions, is to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most promising new as well as seasoned, accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights. Since 1989, MTC Education, which uses the power of live theatre and playwriting to awaken minds, ignite imaginations, open hearts, and change lives, has also been an important corollary to MTC’s work, reaching thousands of students and educators worldwide each season.

Since its beginnings on East 73rd Street in New York City, MTC has grown from a small off-off-Broadway Showcase Theatre into one of the country’s most prestigious and award-winning producing companies, creating over 600 world, American, New York and Broadway premieres. MTC productions have earned 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 28 Tony Awards, 50 Drama Desk Awards and 49 Obie Awards amongst many other honors. MTC has homes on Broadway at its Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and Off- Broadway at New York City Center. MTC is an anti-racist organization that respects and honors all voices, and upholds the values of community and equity. For more information, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com. 

Photo credit: Haruka Sakaguchi