[February 07, 2019] |
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Audible Announces Second Round of Theater Commissions from $5 Million Emerging Playwrights Fund
Audible Inc., the world's largest producer and provider of downloadable
audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment, today announced the
second group of theater playwrights selected to receive support from its
fund dedicated to developing innovative English-language works from
around the globe. The $5 million fund enables the creation of original
plays driven by language and voice, keeping with Audible's core
commitment to elevating listening experiences through powerful
performances and extraordinary vocal storytelling.
"Audible's newest class of playwrights is comprised of incredibly gifted
creatives that are harnessing the power of voice to create theater that
can be enjoyed anywhere, anytime," commented Kate Navin, Artistic
Producer, Audible Theater. "Audible is committed to supporting the
theater community, cultivating great talent and helping to grow
audiences. We can't wait to introduce these extraordinary new works to
millions of people worldwide."
In addition to financial support, Audible will provide the selected
playwrights creative and logistical resources that suit the needs of
each artist and project. With access to both Audible's workspace and an
artistic staff who provide dramaturgical expertise, playwrights will
enjoy a nurturing environment that inspires and encourages artistic
expression. The fund is also intended to support the audio production of
each commission and, in some instances, a live stage component. In its
entirety, the initiative provides opportunity and access for both
theater artists and audiences.
The second round of commissions will go to:
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NICK CARR, the recipient of the Gary Garrison prize for
playwrighting at the American College Theater Festival in Washington
D.C., a selected writer for Theater Masters' Palm Beach Developmental
Workshop Series, and a Kennedy Center Fellow at the O'Neill
Playwrights Conference.
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CHRISTOPHER CHEN, an Obie Award-winning playwright whose work
has been extensively produced across the United States and abroad. In
addition to Audible, he is currently under commission at The Aurora,
LCT3, Manhattan Theatre Club, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights
Horizons and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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ELINOR COOK, the London-based winner of the George Devine Award
for Most Promising Playwright 2013, and a finalist for the Susan Smith
Blakburn Award 2018.
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BERRI GEORGE, a London-based playwright and performer, whose
work has been staged in a range of leading new writing venues. Her
one-woman show LARP, which she also performed, received five star
reviews and toured a selection of local and regional venues.
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CARLA GRAULS, an award-winning playwright whose works have been
performed in London, Italy, and South Africa. She is the winner of the
Nick Darke Award for her play Made for Him, and her critically
acclaimed play Occupied at Theatre503 was nominated for two Off
West End Theatre Awards in 2014.
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ERIC MICHA HOLMES, a playwright and radio dramatist whose
work has been heard on the BBC and seen at The National Black Theatre,
The New Black Fest, MCC Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and The
Lark Play Development Center, among others.
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LINDSAY JOELLE, a Chicago-born, New York-based playwright and
lyricist holding a B.A. in English from Columbia University and an
M.F.A. in Playwriting from CUNY/Hunter. She is a member of Nashville
Repertory Theatre's Ingram New Works Lab, a National New Play Network
writer-in-residence at Curious Theatre, and an alumna of the BMI
Musical Thetre Workshop.
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CHARLOTTE JOSEPHINE, the winner of the Soho Theatre Young
Writers Award 2012, the Clonmel Junction Best Theatre Award 2013, the
Holden Street Theatre's Award 2013, the Adelaide Fringe Award 2014,
the Stage Edinburgh Award 2017, the Octagon (News - Alert) National Monologue Prize
2017, and the inaugural BBC Screenplay First Award in 2017.
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MIKE LEW, a Brooklyn-based playwright, Tony voter and Dramatist
Guild Council member whose honors include the PEN Emerging Playwright,
Lanford Wilson, Helen Merrill, Heideman, and Kendeda awards as well as
a Lark Ventrous fellowship.
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MARISELA TREVIÑA ORTA, a graduate of the Iowa Playwrights
Workshop and a Core Writer at The Playwrights' Center. She has been
awarded the 2006 Chicano/Latino Literary Prize in Drama, the 2009 Pen
Center USA Literary Award in Drama, the 2013 National Latino
Playwriting Award, and is a 2019 Kendeda Finalist.
In 2017, Audible announced its first class of fifteen playwrights
including Aaron Mark, Aditi Brennan Kapil, Antoinette Nwandu, Bridgette
A. Wimberly, Chisa Hutchinson, David Rossmer, Gary McNair, James Anthony
Tyler, James Fritz, Lauren Gunderson, Leah Nakano Winkler, Madhuri
Shekar, Nassim Soleimanpour, Paola Lazaro, and Regina Taylor. Currently,
three Audible commissioned plays will be produced in 2019 including Proof
of Love by Chisa Hutchinson (slated for live production at Minetta
Lane in NYC in spring 2019), Evil Eye by Madhuri Shekar (Audible
release May 2019) and Life Ever After by Carla Grauls (Audible
release June 2019). Additional productions from commissioned playwrights
will be announced in the coming months.
For more information about submitting to the Fund, please contact [email protected].
Award-winning Audible performances of captivating stage productions
starring Billy Crudup, Carey Mulligan, Judith Light, John Lithgow, Patti
Smith, Billy Crystal and others are available at www.audible.com/theater.
ABOUT AUDIBLE, INC.
Audible,
Inc., an Amazon.com (News - Alert), Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading
provider of premium digital spoken audio content, offering customers a
new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible was created
to unleash the emotive music in language and the habituating power and
utility of verbal expression. Audible content includes more than 475,000
audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters,
entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business
information providers.
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