Artists' Rep Welcomes Andrea Stolowitz as New Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence

Artists Repertory Theatre announces that Ronni Lacroute, longtime Artists Rep sponsor and Portland arts patron, has committed to funding a five-year patronage for local award-winning playwright and Artists Rep Resident Artist Andrea Stolowitz. For at least two of those years, Stolowitz will be embedded in Artists Rep's staff as the Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence.

"This is a remarkable opportunity for Andrea and for Artists Rep made possible by the visionary support of Ronni Lacroute," said Sarah Horton, Artists Rep's managing director. "With targeted, game-changing support like this, individual arts patrons like Ronni can personally impact the work of playwrights and the future of theatre-making in America."

The Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence offers Stolowitz an annual salary and discretionary funds to enhance and promote the development of her scripts and support her professional development. Stolowitz's five-year patronage will begin with a two-year residency at Artists Rep. Stolowitz will have an office at Artists Rep where she can work on her writing, and learn first-hand about the operating dynamics of regional theatre. Stolowitz will bring the perspective of a working playwright into Artists Rep's operations, informing the development of theatre strategies, particularly as they relate to new play development and playwright support, as well as consult with Artists Rep's artistic and literary departments. Through this residency, Stolowitz will be an ambassador locally, regionally and nationally as an example of Artists Rep's commitment to being a home for new play development.

"By embedding a playwright in a residential position within the theatre company, we're allowing the playwright to focus on her creative role while giving her access to a company of actors, directors, designers and dramaturgs who can assist in a consistent manner with new play development as works are first read, later workshopped and eventually produced," said Ronni Lacroute, benefactor of the Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence. "Offering Andrea this opportunity is exciting to me. Giving her support and access to discretionary funds that will allow her to develop and promote her plays as she sees fit is an economic stability that I recognize is rare for playwrights, and I know how much she and Artists Rep will benefit."

"This opportunity to be a playwright-in-residence is dream come true," said Andrea Stolowitz, Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence. "I have the chance to be embedded in the organization where I already have a long time affiliation. As a playwright this is fairly unique since normally our relationships with theatres are determined by when our work is being produced. In this scenario, I will have an artistic home where I can work, create and continue to grow as an artist over an extended period of time."

Andrea Stolowitz's plays have been developed and presented nationally and internationally at theatres such as The Long Wharf, The Old Globe, The Cherry Lane and New York Stage and Film. The LA Times calls her work "heartbreaking" and the Orange County Register characterizes her approach as a "brave refusal to sugarcoat issues and tough decisions."

A recipient of Artists Repertory Theater's $25,000 Fowler/Levin New Play Prize, Andrea premiered her play Ithaka at the theatre in 2013. The play had its mid-west premiere in Chicago in 2014 at InFusion Theater and its Canada premiere in May 2016. The play won the 2015 Oregon Book Award in Drama judged by Naomi Iizuka.

Andrea's play Antarktikos also won the Oregon Book Award for Drama (2013) and was published in July 2013 in TheatreForum magazine. The play world-premiered at The Pittsburgh Playhouse in March 2013 and was workshopped at The New Harmony Project (IN), Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival, and Seattle Repertory Theater. It was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and received a 2015 Kilroy's List Honorable Mention.

Knowing Cairo world-premiered at the Old Globe Theatre, which earned a "Billie," San Diego's Best New Play Award and an LA Times' Critic's Pick. It is published by Playscripts Inc. and continues to be produced nationally and internationally. It was presented at Profile Theatre (OR) in 2013.

Andrea's latest play Berlin Diary was presented at English Theater Berlin/International Performing Arts Center in October 2016. The play was supported through a DAAD fellowship, a year-long residency at ETB/IPAC, and grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, The Regional Arts and Culture Council, The Checkpoint Charlie Foundation and The US Embassy. The play was developed at PlayPenn/The National Museum of American Jewish History and the New Harmony Project. Berlin Diary will be presented in Portland, Oregon in April 2017. It was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize and is currently a finalist for the Oregon Book Award.

Andrea works as a collaborating writer with the award-winning devised theatre company Hand2Mouth Theatre. Her current collaboration Pep Talk is touring nationally. The San Francisco Chronicle says "The genius of Pep Talk is that it is at once a collective unburdening...in the way the best drama has always been, while also being very funny and self-aware." She is currently at work on their latest collaboration Psychic Utopia.

Andrea is a Resident Artist at Artists Repertory Theatre. An MFA playwriting alumna of UC-San Diego, Andrea has served on the faculties at Willamette University, the University of Portland, Duke University and UC-San Diego.

Artists Repertory Theatre's mission is to produce intimate, provocative theatre and provide a home for artists of varied backgrounds to take creative risks. Artists Rep is Portland's premiere mid-size regional theatre company and is led by Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez and Managing Director Sarah Horton. Founded in 1982, Artists Repertory Theatre is the longest-running professional theatre company in Portland. Artist Rep became the 72nd member of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) in 2016 and is an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN). Artists Rep's 35th season is announced, the 2017/18 play selections can be found here.

Artists Rep has become a significant presence in American regional theatre with a legacy of world, national and regional premieres of provocative new work with the highest standards of stagecraft. The organization is committed to local artists and features a company of Resident Artists, professionals of varied theatre disciplines, who are a driving force behind Artists Rep's creative output and identity.

Artists Rep is committed to developing new work through its new play development program Table|Room|Stage. With T|R|S, Artists Rep strives to empower and support Oregon-based playwrights while also creating a Portland home for writers from around the country to develop their work. Additionally, this program strives to make a meaningful impact on diversity, equity and inclusion in the theatre field by mandating opportunities for women writers and writers of color, and cultivating the next generation of theatre- goers by creating work specifically for young people (13 and up). Artists Rep makes a vital impact on the Portland arts community with its ArtsHub, creating space and offering a home to 10 multidisciplinary arts organizations within its facility.

RESIDENT ARTISTS - Artists Rep productions feature the work of a core group of over two dozen multidisciplinary theatre professionals. Hailing from around the country, our Resident Artists are nationally renowned and award-winning actors, directors, writers, designers and educators who have chosen to make Portland and Artists Rep their artistic home. Working together and independently, they create inventive and theatrically rich experiences for our audiences while playing a major role in defining Portland's cultural landscape.

TABLE|ROOM|STAGE - Through T|R|S, Artists Rep is committed to becoming an engine for new play development. As a recipient of a $125,000 Oregon Community Foundation Creative Heights grant to establish a robust new play development program, the company is creating opportunities for local and national playwrights to ensure that underrepresented voices are heard on stage. The goal of the T|R|S program was to commission a total of eight plays by year-end 2017 - at least four of the eight commissions to writers of color, at least four to women, one play will be written for young adults and one will be the Oregon Play Prize, which was awarded to Oregon playwright Steve Rathje for his play Signs. That goal has been met. In addition to Steve Rathje's Signs, Artists Rep has commissioned plays from Yussef El Guindi, Linda Alper, Larissa Fasthorse, Andrea Stolowitz (Lacroute Playwright-in-Residence), Dael Orlandersmith and Hansol Jung as part of this new play initiave. El Guindi's play The Talented Ones will receive a full production at the theatre April 25 through May 21, 2017.

ARTSHUB - Artists Rep is also home to the ArtsHub, serving as a community arts center, where its performance venues and lobbies buzz with creative energy and Portland's arts-loving audiences can gather. Artists Rep offers a home within its facility to a diverse range of artists and arts organizations. They can thrive here with access to affordable administrative, performance and rehearsal space, as well as a myriad of support services. Over the last year, hundreds of performances, events and happenings by Portlanders found a place in Artists Rep's building.

The 2016/17 Artists Repertory Theatre season is presented by sponsors Ronni Lacroute/WillaKenzie Estate and David & Christine Vernier and the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz and Renaissance Foundations. Other season support comes from the Collins Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Theatre Communication Group and the Regional Arts and Culture Council and Work for Art. For more, visit artistsrep.org.

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