NEW YORK CITY: The Bret Adams & Paul Reisch Foundation has announced the recipients of its special COVID-19 response grants for playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists who have had a full professional production cancelled, closed, or indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 closures.
The organization decided to distribute the funds for its 2020 Idea Award for Theatre as response grants instead. The Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation has supported additional grants to playwrights. The Foundation has awarded 80 grants of $2,500, a total of $200,000, for theatre writers impacted by COVID-19.
“In no uncertain terms, the business of theatre today has ground to a shocking halt due to the pandemic,” said Bruce Ostler, vice president and board member, in a statement. “Playwrights are not salaried workers and therefore are not eligible for unemployment for a cancelled production. We want to get money to people who need it now. At the very moment when theatres began announcing they were canceling productions and shows started closing, a small group of concerned theatre Samaritans ran towards the emerging doom to put forward the simple but ‘big’ idea that together we can and should help those in need.”
The selected writers, chosen randomly by electronic lottery, are below:
Raquel Almazan
Kevin Artigue
Hilary Bettis
Liza Birkenmeier
Seth Bisen-Hersh
Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen
Carlyle Brown
Darcy Bruce
Diana Burbano
Heather Chrisler
Heather Christian
Julian Christopher
Kate Cortesi
Patricia Cotter
Nathan Davis
Guadalís Del Carmen
Jeremy Desmon
Noah Diaz
Christopher Dimond
Sarah Einspanier
Will Eno
Bonnie Gleicher
Daniel Goldstein
Kirsten Greenidge
Katori Hall
Kate Hamill
Jessica Huang
Caroline Hewitt
Justin Huertas
Anthony Hudson
Ruben Santiago Hudson
Candrice Jones
Sukari Jones
Barbara Kahn
Nambi E. Kelley
Hannah Kohl
Abe Koogler
Michael A. Kooman
Michael John LaChiusa
Rehana Lew Mirza
Haruna Lee
Melissa Li
Ethan Lipton
David M Lutken
Steven Lutvak
Caroline V. McGraw
Aaron Meicht
Omar Vélez Meléndez
Tony Meneses
Anna Moench
Nahal Navidar
Ronan Noone
Yea Bin
Diana Oh
Matthew Paul Olmos
Marisela Orta
Andrew Palermo
Zach Redler
Gab Reisman
Marco Antonio Rodriguez
Steph Del Rosso
Elyssa Samsel
Laura Schein
Madhuri Shekar
Mat Smart
Celine Song
Gary Soto
Caridad Svich
Alexandra Tatarsky
Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Melisa Tien
Jillian Walker
Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters
Cheryl L. West
Whitney White
Jason Odell Williams
Sam Willmott
Chris Wiseman
Nathan J. Yungerberg
Karen Zacarias
Daniel Zaitchik