The Lark Announces Re-Homing of Fellowships & Programs

The Lark, founded as an international play development laboratory dedicated to amplifying the voices of playwrights, which earlier this year announced its closing, has announced the re-homing of its current Fellowships and key Core Artistic Programs. Since The Lark's decision to commence an orderly wind-down of its operations and artistic programs, former Artistic Director May Adrales, with the help of the Artist Advocacy Task Force and The Lark Board's Wind-down Committee, has worked to uphold The Lark's artistic commitments and sought out mission-aligned partners who share its passion for writers and plays-in-process to continue to care for The Lark's artistic community. Those partners include Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Playwrights' Center, Queens Theatre, WP Theater, New York Stage and Film, Second Stage Theater, and Manhattan Class Company with the details enclosed below.

Adrales, who led the effort to ensure the longevity of these important programs states, "It is critical to The Lark's legacy that the community it supports, particularly for BIPOC, Disabled artists, and historically underserved writers, have the resources to continue their important work. Our aim in re-homing our programs was to continue to create space for writers where they have the freedom to explore their most vulnerable, ambitious and courageous work in a community that embraces individual differences and fosters a spirit of abundance, collaboration, playfulness and joy. All of us at The Lark are extremely grateful that this spirit can live on through the generosity and support of all our program partners and funders."

The Venturous Playwright Fellowship, which advocates for the production of risk-taking, innovative plays, and provides concurrent residencies for their authors, will continue at the Playwrights' Center (Artistic Director Jeremy Cohen). The three current Fellows, Vivian Jo Barnes, Nathan Alan Davis, and Jahna Ferron-Smith, will resume the remainder of their Fellowship at the Playwrights' Center. Former Venturous Fellows Sam Chanse, Dipika Guha, and Dave Harris will also receive artistic support. The Playwrights' Center will continue The Lark's work in advocating for and championing productions of all selected Venturous plays and playwrights. The Venturous Playwright Fellowship is funded by the Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.

The Lark's Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, which supports playwrights of color aged 30 and under, will continue at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater (Artistic Director Daniella Topol). Current finalists for the 2021-22 Fellowship will be honored in the Rattlestick selection process, which will resume in 2022. The Van Lier New Voices Fellowship is supported by New York Community Trust and the Jerome Foundation.

The Apothetae Playwriting Fellowship, which supports d/Deaf and Disabled Playwrights, will continue at Queens Theatre (Executive Director Taryn Sacramone). Queens Theatre will continue to support 2020-22 Fellow, O Mae Davis, as well as the inaugural members of the Apothetae Writers' Group: A.A. Brenner, O Mae Davis, Jerron Herman, Tim J. Lord, Magda Romanska, and Nikki Brake-Sillá. Queens Theatre will also support the Apothetae Convenings, which will occur in 2022. The Fellowship is made possible by the Ford Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and Jody Falco and Jeffrey Steinman.

The Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, awarded in 2021 to Brittany K. Allen, was established by Daryl Roth in 1996 to honor artists of extraordinary vision by offering them a year-long developmental residency, will be continued at WP Theater (Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty), the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing, and promoting the work of Women+ artists.

The Shakespeare's Sister Playwriting Fellowship, established by Ellen McLaughlin to foster and create a community of female-identifying writers at various stages of their careers, will also be continued at WP Theater.

The Lark's BareBones Program, designed to provide significant resources for playwrights and their creative collaborators to explore in-depth works-in-progress in a laboratory environment, will continue at New York Stage and Film (Artistic Director Chris Burney). The BareBones Program is funded by donors at FJC, a Foundation of Philanthropic Funds.

The Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop, a writers' salon, which supports five writers at every stage of their career to develop, experiment and take risks with their work, will continue independently under the artistic leadership of David Henry Hwang and Rajiv Joseph at Second Stage Theater (Artistic Director Carole Rothman). Playwrights' Workshop is supported by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

The Lark has donated technical equipment acquired through a capital grant from an anonymous donor to MCC Theater (Director of Public Engagement and Education Tricia Patrick; Artistic Directors Bob LuPone, Bernie Telsey, and Will Cantler; Executive Director Blake West) in support of their robust education program which has served over 1200 students across their educational programs since 1999. The equipment will help address the evolving technological needs to support MCC's hybrid virtual and in-person classes.

The Lark awarded 30 open and unrestricted microgrants of $1,000 each to Lark-affiliated writers as a continuation of pandemic-related assistance enabled by the Arthur Kopit Artist Fund at The Lark. These grants were made possible through the generosity of the Jonathan Z. Larsen/Larsen Fund, and the awardees were selected by Lark Artistic Staff.

For more information visit: www.larktheatre.org

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