OSF Awarded $125K Grant for Lynn Nottage Commissions

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is the recipient of a generous grant of $125,000 from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) through the foundation's new Theatre Commissioning and Production Initiative. The grant will support the production of playwright Lynn Nottage's Sweat and a future commission by Ms. Nottage. Sweat is commissioned through OSF's American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle and will premiere at OSF on August 2, 2015 and run through October 31.

"I am thrilled that the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has recognized Lynn, OSF and our relationship," said OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch. "We are honored to partner with this brilliant artist in presenting these stories, in launching her next commission, and in finding meaningful ways to bring into the discussion economically-challenged communities often overlooked by American theater. With Sweat, the Festival renews its artistic partnership with the devastatingly honest playwright whose plays (Crumbs from the Table of Joy, 2000; Intimate Apparel, 2006; Ruined, 2010) have mesmerized OSF audiences.

"In addition, Sweat makes Lynn Nottage, along with Robert Schenkkan, the most-produced living playwright in OSF's history. As a classical and language-based theater, it is essential that we continue to produce new work from today's most vital playwrights, of which Lynn Nottage is undeniably at the top of her field. Shakespeare wrote his masterworks in collaboration with a resident company of actors working in rotating repertory, and the extraordinary company of actors is a major reason that our country's best playwrights are creating important new plays for our theater."

Ms. Nottage has been actively developing Sweat with OSF's support since 2011. Central to her development process has been her deep and immersive experience in Reading, Pennsylvania, a community ravaged by America's industrial decline in the 1990s. Sweat is based on real events experienced by real people. When Sweat opens at OSF, the production will be the culmination of five years of research, development, conversation and exploration with residents of Reading.

In seeking to honor those conversations and stories in the best way possible, OSF will designate funds from DDCF to support additional workshops and play development. The grant will also support community programming to engage neighbor communities in southern Oregon and affordable tickets for participants in the community programs, which will include community readings, events and discussions with OSF actors and artists. Also, Ms. Nottage will receive monetary support for her new commission, depending on whether she chooses to write a wholly original work or an adaptation.

"We are thrilled to support these remarkable theaters in their continuing alliances with playwrights to bring ambitious new works to the public," said Ben Cameron, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Program Director for the Arts. "Through this new initiative, the foundation aims to help address the historically poor compensation of playwrights, to encourage long-term relationships between theaters and writers, and to support the production of plays that serve theaters' nonprofit missions, even if such plays do not have immediate commercial appeal."

The other first-round Theatre Commissioning and Production Initiative grantees are: Denver Theatre Center, Benediction by Eric Schmiedl; Lookingglass Theatre (Chicago), Moby Dick by David Catlin; Public Theater (New York), The Orange Plays by Richard Nelson; and Two River Theatre Company (Red Bank, NJ), Be More Chill by Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz.

The foundation will award an additional five grants during the second round of the initiative, culminating in $1.25 million of funding by its end. Each grant is composed of three parts: $75,000 to support a production; $25,000 to be awarded to the playwright; and $25,000 to support a new commission and potentially development activities between the theater and the same playwright. Visit the Theatre Commissioning and Production Initiative page on www.ddcf.org to learn more.

Founded by Angus Bowmer in 1935 and winner of a 1983 Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents an eight-month season of 11 plays that include works by Shakespeare as well as a mix of classics, musicals, and new works.. The Festival also draws attendance of more than 400,000 to almost 800 performances every year and employs approximately 575 theatre professionals. In 2008, OSF launched American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, a 10-year cycle of commissioning new plays that has already resulted in several OSF commissions finding success nationwide.

Pictured: Lynn Nottage. Photo by Jenny Graham.

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