The Michael Chekhov Association Selects Gracie Gardner As 2023 International Summer Workshop Artist-In-Residence For Annual Gathering

MICHA, The Michael Chekhov Association has announced that American playwright Gracie Gardner has been selected as the first recipient of the Theater of the Future Fellowship.

As part of the inaugural program -- the first project of the Joanna Merlin Professional Artists Initiative-- Gardner will be the Artist in Residence at MICHA's International Summer Workshop taking place June 24-July 1 at Connecticut College. There, she will lead a new play lab, in collaboration with director and MICHA Teaching Artist Ellie Heyman, centered on Gardner's newest theater work, WORMS.

MICHA's six-day summer program offers immersive training in the Michael Chekhov Technique. To date, MICHA has trained over 2,000 performers and teachers who have gone on to practice and share the technique in theatre companies, acting studios, and academic institutions globally. With the naming of Gardner as this year's Artist in Residence as well as the incorporation of the new play development element, attendees will have a robust opportunity to work with professional artists in this experiential workshop environment.

"New play development is at the heart of the theater, and I am delighted that the Fellowship program will enable us to partner with exciting, emerging talents like Gracie," said Joanna Merlin, Founder and President Emeritus of MICHA.

Gardner is a Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival winner and has also received commissions from the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Her play, Athena, was a New York Times Critics' Pick. She is the recipient of the McKnight National Residency and Commission, an Ensemble Studio Theatre Sloan Foundation Commission, the James E. Michael Award, and the James Stevenson Prize. Gardner is a member of the New Dramatists, Ars Nova Play Group, and Youngblood at the Ensemble Theatre Group and has worked as a video game writer for Annapurna Interactive.

The Theater of the Future Fellowship was founded in Merlin's honor by the MICHA Board in recognition of her enduring contribution to the performing arts. The Initiative is focused on bringing the Chekhov Technique to directors, writers, and actors working in professional theatre, television, and film.

"Joanna's passion for the work and her commitment to introducing new and up-and-coming talent to the technique has been the heart and soul of MICHA," says Jessica Cerullo, MICHA's long-time artistic director. "It's fitting and thrilling that she is once again at the center of this new initiative - and that it honors Chekhov's belief that the theater of the future hinges on the dynamic relationship between the director, playwright, actor, and the play. We're excited to see the fruits it will bear."

Merlin founded MICHA in 1999, to both preserve and share Chekhov's legacy and innovative technique. As a young actress, she was a member of his acting studio and was profoundly impacted by his philosophy and teachings. Chekhov, a celebrated actor and director at the Moscow Art Theater, fled political repression in the late 1920's, ultimately building a successful career in Hollywood and receiving an Academy Award nomination for his performance in "Spellbound." He coached numerous leading actors of the day, including Marilyn Monroe, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, and Yul Brynner. He believed that actors could discover the inner and outer life of a character through an experiential process that empowers them to transcend their inhibitions and expand their creative resources.

An actor, casting director, teacher and author, Merlin's Broadway credits include Becket opposite Laurence Olivier and the original cast of Fiddler on the Roof, where she created the role of Tzeitel, the eldest daughter. She was the casting director for Harold Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Bernardo Bertolucci and James Ivory and cast the original Broadway productions of Into the Woods, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, and Merrily We Roll Along, as well as Evita, Candide and On the Twentieth Century. Her extensive acting credits include Mystic Pizza, Fame, City of Angels, Class Action and The Ten Commandments, Homeland, The Good Wife and a recurring role as Judge Lena Petrovsky on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. She was also a co-founder of the Non-Traditional Casting Project in the 1980's, which evolved to become Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. The organization was honored for excellence at the 2011 Tony Awards. A longtime member of the faculty of the NYU graduate acting program, Merlin is the author of "Auditioning: An Actor Friendly Guide".

MICHA Board member and Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer is a strong proponent of the technique. "What I love most about Chekhov's approach," he says, "is the way he hot-wires the actor's imagination to the very soul of the character, and in fact, the actor."

To learn more about MICHA and to register for the International Summer Festival, please visit michaelchekhov.org.

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The Michael Chekhov Association is a not-for-profit association dedicated to upholding the legacy and technique of Michael Chekhov. MICHA trains performers, directors, teachers, scholars, and artists; fosters cross-community collaboration and creative spaces; and produces publications and programming, all in support of artistic exploration and the cultivation of a performance-based practice with future generations. www.michaelchekhov.org

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