LOS ANGELES: Antaeus Theatre Company has selected playwrights Alex Alpharaoh and Lisa Sanaye Dring as the recipients of the company’s second annual NEXT commissions, a new-play development initiative for BIPOC playwrights. The commissions were created to amplify historically underrepresented voices and to broaden the scope of the classical theatre canon.
“We created our NEXT Commissions because we believe that great stories, from both past and emerging voices, help us further our mission of illuminating diverse human experiences,” said Antaeus artistic director Bill Brochtrup and producing executive director Ana Rose O’Halloran in a statement. “We are thrilled to partner with two incredible storytellers, Alex and Lisa, this year and can’t wait to see what vital plays they will create.”
The NEXT commissions seek to nurture an inclusive generation of writers and support the creation of extraordinary new plays that will stand the test of time. NEXT offers financial, dramaturgical and logistical support for the development of original full-length works. The goal is to produce these plays as part of future Antaeus Seasons.
Alex Alpharaoh is a formerly undocumented Guatemala-born actor, dramatic writer, spoken word poet, solo performer, and teaching artist from Los Angeles. He is the recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for solo performance as well as the recipient of a Stage Raw award for writing and performance for WET: A DACAmented Journey, a story about what it means to be an American in every sense of the word except on paper. Alpharaoh’s plays have been produced and workshopped throughout the country.
Lisa Sanaye Dring recently appeared in the Antaeus production of Everybody, and she directed Alex Goldberg’s The Six Pianos of El Miradero for “The Zip Code Plays.” Her play Hungry Ghost will be produced by Skylight Theatre this summer, followed by a production of SUMO at La Jolla Playhouse with Ma-Yi Theater Company. Lisa has recently worked on multiple projects with Meow Wolf and was a member of the Geffen Writers’ Room. She was a recipient of the 2020/21 PLAY LA Stage Raw/Humanitas Prize. She’s been a finalist for the Relentless Award, the O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference.
Antaeus Theatre Company is an actor-driven performing arts organization based in Los Angeles, that explores and produces timely and timeless works, grounded in a passion for the Classics. Antaeus seeks to illuminate diverse human experiences through performance, training, and outreach.
