BROOKLYN: The Farm Theater has awarded the 2021-22 College Collaboration Project Commission to playwright Jake Brasch, a first-time College Collaboration participant. Brasch will collaborate with Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn., and Pellissippi State College in Knoxville, Tenn. This is Pellissippi State’s second collaboration, following their partnership in 2018-19.

The College Collaboration Project allows multiple schools to commission an early-career playwright to write a full-length play for student production. The script must feature a minimum of five characters, the majority of whom are under 30, so that undergraduate students can successfully portray them.

Brasch will discuss the theme and direction of the play with groups of students from both partner schools, and will have the opportunity to rewrite the play throughout the year. Austin Peay State will produce the play in the fall 2021 semester, and Pellissippi State will produce the play in spring 2022.

Brasch is a Brooklyn-based playwright, lyricist, composer, pianist, and clown from Colorado. A member of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood writing group, Brasch has worked at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, Eden Theater Company, the Tank, Dixon Place, and DSA Theatre Company at Edinburgh Fringe, among others. Brasch is currently under commission from the EST/Sloan Science and Technology Project and was a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company 2020 Intensive Ensemble.

The Farm Theater develops early-career artists through workshops, productions, and mentoring. The centerpiece of the Farm Theater’s programming is the College Collaboration Project, which has commissioned nine playwrights and collaborated with 17 colleges over nine years.