NEW YORK CITY: The Lark has announced the Rita Goldberg Playwrights’ Workshop fellows for the 2016-17 season. The workshop brings together emerging and established playwrights, who will meet regularly throughout the year to develop new plays. The 2016-17 fellows, all NYC-based, are Keith Josef Adkins, Sam Chanse, Rehana Lew Mirza, Jen Silverman, and Anna Ziegler.
“This program is designed not only to foster new work, but also to engage in urgent conversations with writers of varying perspectives,” the Lark’s director of artistic programs Lloyd Suh said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have such a dynamic and exciting company of fellows, each with such big ideas and visions. These are playwrights who are grappling with the most important issues of our time, with empathy and humor and rigor. We’re so thrilled to have them do that work here and with each other over the year.”
Adkins’s plays include The People Before the Park and Pitbulls. His work has been produced at Premiere Stages, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, among others.
Chanse’s work includes The Other Instinct, Fruiting Bodies, and What you are now. She is a member of New Dramatists, Ars Nova’s Play Group, and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab.
Mirza’s plays include Soldier X, Lonely Leela, and Barriers. Her work has been produced at Ma-Yi Theater and the Asian American Theater Company, among others. Soldier X will soon be produced at Brooklyn College. Mirza is currently in a shared National Playwrights Mellon residency with her husband, Mike Lew, at Ma-Yi Theater.
Silverman’s plays include Phoebe in Winter, Crane Story, and The Roomate. Her work has been produced at Clubbed Thumb, the Playwrights Realm, and Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. She is a member of New Dramatists and a core writer at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis.
Ziegler’s plays include Photograph 51, Actually, and The Last Match. Her work has been produced at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the West End. She has been comissioned by the Manhattan Theatre Club, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Old Globe Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, and New Georges.
The group with meet regularly throughout the year. The program is led by playwright Arthur Kopit along with a group of other American playwrights including David Henry Hwang, Tina Howe, Terrence McNally, Theresa Rebeck, José Rivera, Lynn Nottage, and Doug Wright.
