NEW YORK: Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the recipients of the first and second rounds of the 2022-23 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards total $725,000 and will allow 17 productions extra time for development and rehearsal in the hopes of extending the life of the play after its world premiere.
“As our theatre field continues to navigate the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, the Edgerton Foundation’s visionary investment in new plays continues to make a critical difference,” TCG executive director Teresa Eyring said in a statement. “The Foundation’s support of longer rehearsal processes has always been impactful, but now, as our field seeks to welcome back audiences, that support is truly game-changing. Theatres can ensure that new plays receive the resources they need to not only attract audiences in their inaugural productions, but enjoy many subsequent performances at theatres across the country.”
The awards are presented to the musical Cowboy Bob, with music and lyrics by Jeanna Phillips and book and additional lyrics by Molly Beach Murphy, whose original production will be at the Alley Theatre, directed and choreographed by Annie Tippe; Here There Are Blueberries by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, directed by Kaufman in a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse and Tectonic Theater Project; Patriots by Peter Morgan at Almeida Theatre; The Travelers by Luis Alfaro at Magic Theatre; Exclusion by Kenneth Lin at Arena Stage; The Motive and the Cue by Jack Thorne at the National Theatre; Pru Payne by Steven Drukman at Arizona Theatre Company; shadow/land by Erika Dickerson-Dispenza at the Public Theater; Elyria by Deepa Purohit at the Atlantic Theater Company; Primary Trust by Eboni Booth at Roundabout Theatre Company; The Far Country by Lloyd Suh at the Atlantic; Hamnet by Lolita Chakrabarti at the Royal Shakespeare Company; Colonialism Is Terrible, But Pho Is Delicious by Dustin H. Chinn at Aurora Theatre Company; Letters from Max by Sarah Ruhl at Signature Theatre Company; Laughs In Spanish by Alexis Scheer at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Eternal Life, Part 1 by Nathan Alan Davis at the Wilma Theater; and Swing State by Rebecca Gilman at the Goodman Theatre.
Over the last 17 years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded over $15 million to 491 productions, enabling many plays to schedule subsequent productions following their world premieres. The foundation’s New Plays Program was piloted in 2006 with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, and Brad and Louise Edgerton launched the program nationally in 2007.
Theatre Communications Group is the national organization for theatre and leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. They are also the publisher of this magazine.
