WATERFORD, CONN.: The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center has announced its 2017 season, featuring plays, musicals, and other works in development as part of the company’s National Puppetry Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Playwrights Conference, and Cabaret and Performance Conference.
“Last fall the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center received the National Medal of Arts in a White House ceremony,” said executive director Preston Whiteway in a statement. “This summer, the O’Neill boldly continues our mission as launchpad of the American theatre with our 2017 professional season. The artists selected across our programs, from nearly 2,000 applicants, are adding exciting and necessary voices that will play our nation’s stages for years to come.”
The artists-in-residence this summer at the National Puppetry Conference (June 16-17), led by Pam Arciero, will be Hua Hua Zhang and Marsian DeLellis. Artists leading intensives for the conference will include Ronnie Burkett, Melissa Dunphy, Alice Gottschalk, Martin Kettling, Phillip Huber, Kurt Hunter, Jim Kroupa, Tim Lagasse, Lisa Lichtenfels, Martin P. Robinson, Jim Rose, and Fred Thompson.
The National Music Theater Conference, led by Paulette Haupt, will run June 24-July 14. The lineup of work will include:
- Home Street Home, with book by Fat Mike and Soma Snakeoil with David Goldsmith, music by Fat Mike, and lyrics by Fat Mike, Jeff Marx, and Soma Snakeoil
- iLLA! A Hip Hop Musical, with book and music by J Kyle Manzay and Ronvé O’Daniel, and lyrics by O’Daniel
- Superhero, with book by John Logan, and music and lyrics by Tom Kitt
The National Playwrights Conference, the O’Neill’s founding program, will be led by Wendy C. Goldberg and run July 5-29. The selected eight plays were chosen from a pool of 1,350 submissions. The lineup of work will include:
- We Are Among Us by Stephen Belber
- The Quiet Ones by Mary Hamilton
- Queens by Martyna Majok
- Exposure by Steve DiUbaldo
- Title IX by Elaine Romero
- The One ATM in Antarctica by Adam Esquenazi Douglas
- Black Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galván
In addition, Devlin Elliot will serve as the 2017 writer-in-residence.
John McDaniel will helm the Cabaret and Performance Conference from Aug. 2-12. Applications for the Cabaret Fellows program are being accepted through May 1. The headliners for the conference include:
- Judy Kuhn
- Christina Bianco and Brad Simmons
- Shades of Beautiful by Tracy Stark
- Angel City by Spencer Day
- Peaceful Easy Feeling: : The music of the 1970s by Barb Jungr and John McDaniel
Summer programming will also include the National Theater Institute Theatermakers Summer Intensive (June 19-July 24). Led by Rachel Jett, the program trains students in a curriculum of acting, directing, and playwriting for school credits.
Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones will lead the National Critics Institute (July 1-15), a two-week book camp for arts writers and critics. Applications are being accepted through April 25. Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and American Theatre are also seeking an arts journalist of color to partake in TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color Program, and the selected writer will also earn a spot in the National Critics Institute.
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center was founded in 1964 as a development hub for new work. It is home to the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, National Puppetry Conference, Cabaret and Performance Conference, National Theater Institute, and National Critics Institute.
*An earlier version of this story omitted the last word in the title Black Super Hero Magic Mama.
