SEATTLE: Seattle Repertory Theatre has announced that it received full funding from the Elizabeth George Foundation to support the commissioning of work from three emerging playwrights as part of Seattle Rep’s the Other Season.
“Through the Other Season, we aspire to support playwrights at every stage of their careers,”said Seattle Rep artistic director Braden Abraham in a statement. “Thanks to the generosity of the Elizabeth George Foundation, we are able to bolster that support even more for the next generation of great playwrights. We look forward to collaborating with Joanna Garner, Lily Houghton, and C.A. Johnson on their dynamic projects, while showcasing their extraordinary voices through our programs.”
The funding from this prestigious foundation will support developmental work from Garner, Houghton, and Johnson beginning this fall. The support from the Elizabeth George Foundation enables artists at the beginning stage of their careers to have work recognized and cultivated by institutions across the nation in the hope that these theatres become the artistic homes for the work being created.
Joanna Garner is a playwright based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she is also the director of exhibition narrative for Meow Wolf. Garner is the 2018 Resident Playwright at Chance Theater in Southern California where she is developing two new plays. She has her M.F.A. in playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin.
Lily Houghton, born and raised in Manhattan, wrote her first play at 17 before receiving her B.A. from Bennington College last May. Her play Dear received a PlayLab with MCC Theater in the fall of 2017 and a production at Shepherd University/CATF this April.
C.A. Johnson, from Metairie, La., was chosen for a Sundance/Ucross Fellowship and the 2018 Sundance Theatre Lab in Marrakesh, Morocco. She received her B.A. from Smith College and her M.F.A. from New York University.
Primarily through the programs the Other Season and the Writers Group, Seattle Rep has developed new theatrical works for more than 30 years. Artists that have previously worked with Seattle Rep through the Other Season include Lauren Yee, Qui Nguyen, Sarah Burgess, Hansol Jung, Claire Kiechel, among others.
Founded in 1963, Seattle Rep is one of America’s premier nonprofit resident theatres, achieving international renown for high production and artistic standards, with an emphasis on entertaining plays of true dramatic and literary worth.