National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman Announces $100,000 in NEA Distinguished New Play Development Project Grants

Grants will support the development of outstanding new American plays

September 2, 2010

		Contact: Liz Stark 202-682-5744 starke@arts.gov

Washington, DC – Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, today announced the 2010 NEA New Play Development Program's Distinguished New Play grants. Five theaters will each receive a grant of $20,000 to support the early stages of development for a new play with strong potential to merit a full production:

• About Face Theatre (Chicago, IL) for Tanya Saracho's The Albert Cashier Project

• Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis, MN) for Larissa FastHorse's Fancy Dancer

• Cornerstone Theater Company (Los Angeles, CA) for Tom Jacobson's West Hollywood Musical

• McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ) for Emily Mann's Hoodwinked

• Woolly Mammoth Theater Company (Washington, DC) for Danai Gurira's Zimbabwe Project

Please see full project descriptions of the NEA Distinguished New Play Development Project selections.

Working in close collaboration with the playwrights, each theater will use this funding for development activities, such as dramaturgy, design workshops and consultations, read-throughs, public readings, workshop productions, and open rehearsals.

"In order for the American theater to remain vibrant and vital, we need to invest in new work," said Chairman Landesman. "I am proud and honored that the NEA is investing in the development of new plays by five of this country's most exciting playwrights."

The National Endowment for the Arts created the NEA New Play Development Program to advance the American not-for-profit theater's ability to provide meaningful support for new work. The program provides financial support for playwrights and institutions developing outstanding new American plays, advances the field's ability to support the development process for new work, and disseminates information on effective models for developing outstanding new American plays.

This fall, the NEA will announce two projects selected as 2010 NEA Outstanding New American Plays through the NEA New Play Development Program.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established, bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.

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