Second Volume of Playwrights Horizons' Literary Magazine, ALMANAC to be Released in Print in December

Playwrights Horizons will release the second volume of its pioneering literary magazine, Almanac, in print in December. With Almanac, the organization provides its singular community of playwrights and theater-makers an outlet for work in other mediums-essays, poems, drawings, and more, both alongside and in response to the organization's on-stage productions-that take stock of contemporary culture.

Almanac Volume 2 is brought together by a dynamic team of Playwrights Horizons staff members collaborating as its Editorial Board, led by Associate Artistic Director Natasha Sinha and Literary Director Lizzie Stern, who serve as the publication's Editors-in-Chief. They write, "Playwrights Horizons launched Almanac in 2020, during a moment of pandemic, protest, and existential crisis-a time when theater artists had few outlets for their invaluable insight. Like Playwrights Horizons itself, Almanac upholds playwrights as great literary figures, understanding that their perspectives and singular imaginations prompt vital and rich cultural discourse. As Almanac now continues in tandem with on-stage productions, it offers a rare opportunity for an interplay between prismatic responses to performed work and the genesis of new standalone writing and conversation."

Almanac Volume 2 revisits and deepens conversations surrounding plays that were featured in the 2021-22 season at Playwrights Horizons: Aleshea Harris' What to Send Up When it Goes Down, Sylvia Khoury's Selling Kabul, Dave Harris' Tambo & Bones, Sanaz Toossi's Wish You Were Here, and Will Arbery's Corsicana. Writing in multiple forms from Aleshea Harris, Heather Raffo, Anne Washburn, Natasha Sinha, Anaïs Duplan, Lizzie Stern, Heidi Schreck, Martyna Majok, Jia Tolentino, Aydan Shahd, and Ryan J. Haddad extends from these plays. Adam Greenfield, Deborah Margolin, Mara Nelson-Greenberg, Deepali Gupta, Mextly Couzin, Agnes Borinsky, Adam Coy, David Zheng, and Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas offer other bold writing-essays, plays, poetry, letters, and a Sondheim-themed crossword puzzle.

In addition to spotlighting writing released digitally over the course of the last year, the print edition of Almanac Volume 2 includes Plays as Shapes, for which Playwrights Horizons commissioned Aleshea Harris, Sarah Ruhl, Mia Chung, Abe Koogler, Agnes Borinsky, Christopher Chen, and Jordan Harrison to illustrate the form of their plays in interpretive visual portraits. The publication's Editorial Board explained, in a statement, "At Playwrights Horizons, we are often in awe of how plays can take all kinds of shapes. While many playwrights beautifully sculpt their plays within an Aristotelian climactic structure, not every work of theater aims for rising action that reaches a climax before resolving. A great play may exist and accumulate in myriad ways. To get a visual sense of a true range of artistic expression, we asked some of our favorite playwrights to draw the "shape" of one of their own plays."

The Almanac team also includes Jordan Best (Graphic Design Manager), Adam Greenfield (Artistic Director), Teresa Bayer (Director of Marketing), Alison Koch (Director of Communications), Billy McEntee (Editor), Fiona Selmi (Editor), and May Treuhaft-Ali (Editor).

About Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons is a writer's theater dedicated to the development of contemporary American Playwrights, and to the production of innovative new work. In a city rich with cultural offerings, Playwrights Horizons' 51-year-old mission is unique among theaters of its size; the organization has distinguished itself by a steadfast commitment to centering and advancing the voice of the playwright. It's a mission that is always timely, and one that's necessary in the ongoing evolution of theater in this country.

Playwrights Horizons believes that playwrights are the great storytellers of our time, offering essential contributions to civic discourse and illuminating life's greatest paradoxes. And they believe in the singularity of a writer's voice, valuing the broad, eclectic spectrum and diversity of American writers. At Playwrights Horizons, writers are supported in every stage of their growth through commissions (engaging several of today's most imaginative playwrights each year), New Works Lab, Soundstage audio program, the Lighthouse Project, and Almanac, the organization's magazine.

Playwrights Horizons presents a season of productions annually on their two stages, each of which is a world, American, or New York premiere. Much like Playwrights Horizons' work, their audience is risk-taking and adventurous; and the organization is committed to strengthening their engagement and feeding their curiosity through all of its programming, onsite and online.

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