NEW YORK: Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the first round of the 2021 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards total in excess of $1 million and allow 28 productions extra time for development and rehearsal with the entire creative team, with the goal to extend the life of world premiere plays after their first runs. This round is the first iteration of the New Play Awards since the cancelation of theatre seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“After the most difficult year in our theatre field’s recent history, the Edgerton Foundation’s transformational investment in new plays has never been more important,” said TCG executive director Teresa Eyring in a statement. “The foundation’s support of longer rehearsal processes has always been valuable, but now, as our field reopens with a focus on safety and inclusion, that support is truly life-giving. Theatre artists will have a chance to breathe, and to take the time they need after the losses of last year as they make the plays that will knit our country back together.”
The first round of the New Play Awards have been presented to Born With Teeth by Liz Duffy Adams at the Alley Theatre; A.D.16 by Cinco Paul and Bekah Brunstetter at the Olney Theatre Center; Noir by Kyle Jarrow, with music by Duncan Sheik and lyrics by Jarrow and Sheik, at the Alley; Tambo & Bones by Dave Harris at Playwrights Horizons; House of Shades by Beth Steel at the Almeida Theatre in London; Wish You Were Here by Sanaz Toossi at Playwrights Horizons; Suffragist by Shaina Taub at the Public Theater; Father/Daughter by Kait Kerrigan at Aurora Theatre Company; Top of the World by Catherine Butterfield at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; The Garden by Charlayne Woodard at Baltimore Center Stage; “We declare you a terrorist…” by Tim J. Lord at Round House Theatre; Refuge, co-created by Satya Jnani Chavez and Andrew Rosendorf, with transcreation by Marialuisa Burgos at the Curious Theatre Company; The Magician’s Elephant, adapted from the novel by Kate DiCamillo by Nancy Harris with music by Marc Teitler and lyrics by Harris and Teitler, at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K.; Soft Target by Emily Kaczmarek at the Geffen Playhouse; Bruce, with music by Richard Oberacker and book & lyrics by Robert Taylor and Oberacker at Seattle Repertory Theatre; Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill, with words and music by Matt Schatz at the Geffen; Letters of Suresh by Rajiv Joseph at Second Stage Theater; Good Night, Oscar by Doug Wright at the Goodman Theatre; A Case for the Existence of God by Samuel D. Hunter at Signature Theatre; to the yellow house by Kimber Lee at La Jolla Playhouse; Bald Sisters by Vichet Chum at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Mother Russia by Lauren Yee at La Jolla Playhouse; Nan and the Lower Body by Jessica Dickey at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; Prayer for the French Republic by Joshua Harmon at Manhattan Theatre Club; This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson at the Vineyard Theatre; The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel by Colette Robert with music and lyrics by Dionne McClain-Freeney at New Georges and the Movement Theatre Company; Row by Daniel Goldstein with music and lyrics by Dawn Landes, inspired by A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure at Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Mr. Dickens’s Hat by Michael Hollinger at Northlight Theatre.
The Edgerton Foundation New Plays Program was developed by Brad and Louise Edgerton and launched nationally in 2007. The program has supported 458 plays at over 50 theatres across the country.
Theatre Communications Group strives to lead for a just and thriving theatre ecology, with over 700 member theatres and affiliated organizations and over 7,000 individual members. TCG reaches over a million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year through networking, research, communications, and events, and is the publisher of this magazine.
