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| ROUNDABOUT'S NEW ASSOCIATE ARTIST: Acclaimed playwright Theresa Rebeck. Photo: www.TheresaRebeck.com |
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Roundabout Theatre Company
announces an expansion of initiatives
to support playwrights and composers
The expansion includes the appointment of Theresa Rebeck as Associate Artist, the announcement of new play The Dream of the Burning Boy at Roundabout Underground and additional commissions for new work.
Roundabout
Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces an expansion
of their initiatives currently in place to support theater artists and
develop new work.
The expansion includes the appointment of
playwright Theresa Rebeck as Associate Artist, the announcement of an
additional Spring 2011 Roundabout Underground production entitled The Dream of the Burning Boy, and the commissioning of 10 playwrights & composers.
These
initiatives reflect the not-for-profit's commitment to provide a
nurturing artistic home for theatre artists at all stages of their
careers where the widest possible audience can experience their work at
affordable prices.
THERESA REBECK, NEW ASSOCIATE ARTIST
Roundabout
has appointed Theresa Rebeck as an Associate Artist. This new
relationship follows the recent New York premiere staging of her hit
play The Understudy at Roundabout's Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.
This
marks the first time a playwright joins a group of Associate Artists
that includes Scott Elliott, Bill Irwin, Joe Mantello, Mark Brokaw and
Kathleen Marshall. Scott Ellis (Associate Artistic Director), Jim
Carnahan (Director of Artistic Development/Director of Casting), Robyn
Goodman (Artistic Consultant) and Doug Hughes (Resident Director) are
also members of the artistic staff.
Roundabout's Associate
Artists are experienced members of the theater community who have forged
a meaningful relationship with the not-for-profit organization. The
Associate Artist title is a way of formalizing the relationship with an
artist who has really become part of the Roundabout family. An Associate
Artist can bring work to Roundabout that needs a developmental home,
while Roundabout can discuss potential projects that are being explored
for the institution. As an Associate Artist, Ms. Rebeck will be
available to consult with the Artistic Director, and assist the theater
in various educational and development activities. The relationship is intended to be mutually beneficial.
Quote from Todd Haimes:
"Associate
Artists have primarily been directors in the past, so we'll be
exploring a new avenue by adding Theresa Rebeck as the first playwright
to take on this title. With her great knowledge of the industry,
especially as Roundabout continues to deepen its commitment to producing
and developing new work, we know that her voice will be an important
one for the future."
THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY AT ROUNDABOUT UNDERGROUND
Roundabout Theatre Company announces The Dream of the Burning Boy as the first Roundabout Underground spring production. The Dream of the Burning Boy,
a new play by David West Read, directed by Evan Cabnet, will begin
performances on February 25, 2011 and open on March 20, 2011 in the
Black Box Theatre in the Harold & Miriam Steinberg Center for
Theatre.
Casting and a design team will be announced at a later date.
In The Dream of the Burning Boy
the sudden death of a high school overachiever exposes a secret that
could destroy those left behind, or bring them closer together. A
bittersweet story of choices made, opportunities lost, and finding the
strength to move on.
This will be the second Roundabout Underground production of the 2010-2011 season following Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still in Fall 2010.
GROWTH OF ROUNDABOUT'S NEW PLAY INITIATIVE & COMMISSIONS
In
1995, Roundabout created the New Play Initiative to promote the
development of new works by established playwrights as an extension of
their mission to bring classic theatre to their audiences. The program
encourages playwrights by providing support in the form of commissions
for early and mid-career writers, conducting developmental workshops of
new musicals and plays, and mounting fully staged productions of new
work on the Roundabout stages.
Since 2003, Roundabout has produced 67 workshops and readings and commissioned 12 writers.
In
2007, Roundabout Underground was launched with Stephen Karam's Speech
& Debate with the aim to cultivate new works by emerging
playwrights, giving them the opportunity to debut their plays as
full-scale productions in the nurturing environment of Roundabout's
62-seat Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for
Theatre. The program is an essential part of the institution's future
as Roundabout works to build relationships with emerging American
writers and directors.
As a result of Roundabout introducing Stephen Karam to the professional theatrical community with Speech & Debate,
the play became the third most produced play in the United States in
2009 (according to Theater Communications Group). Roundabout
commissioned Stephen's newest play, Sons of the Prophet. The
play will receive its world premiere at the Huntington Theatre Company
in a production directed by Huntington Theatre Company Artistic Director
Peter DuBois and produced by special arrangement with Roundabout.
Roundabout Commissions
Roundabout's
commissioning program has seen significant growth in recent years. Due
to several essential grants, Roundabout grew from an average of one or
two commissions per year to having 10 currently in various stages of
development. Writers being developed range from Pulitzer finalists to
playwrights with major regional success to younger writers in need of
early career support. Readings, workshops and feedback help support
this diverse group to create strong and exciting work.
Through
the support of Roundabout's New Play Initiative donors, the following
ten writers are currently under commission: Bekah Brunstetter, Julia
Cho, Lydia Diamond, Diana Fithian, Nathan Louis Jackson, Stephen Karam,
Steven Levenson, Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Julie Marie
Myatt.
The commission of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez is the institution's first time commissioning a new musical.
Julia Cho's The Language Archive
was commissioned by Roundabout, made possible by a gift from The
Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation's Theatre Visions Fund Award, and
received the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2010. The play will be
produced in the Fall 2010 at Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels
Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre following a
production at South Coast Repertory, produced by special arrangement
with Roundabout and directed by Roundabout Associate Artist Mark Brokaw.
BIOGRAPHIES:
DAVID
WEST READ (Playwright, The Dream of the Burning Boy) is currently a
Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School, and a
recent graduate of the MFA program in Dramatic Writing at New York
University's Tisch School of the Arts. His play The Dream of the
Burning Boy was developed at the 2010 National Playwrights Conference at
the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. His work has been featured in the
Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Repertory, the Samuel French
Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, NYU's Festival of New Works, the
Toronto Fringe, and the SummerWorks Festival, and he is currently
working on a commission for South Coast Repertory. Selected honors
include the Robertson Davies Playwriting Award, the Alta Lind Cook Prize
for Drama, and NYU's John Golden Prize for Graduate Playwriting. David
is a native of Toronto, Canada.
EVAN CABNET (Director, The Dream
of the Burning Boy). Credits include: Elizabeth Meriwether's Oliver
Parker! (Cherry Lane, world premiere), Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah!
(Atlantic Theatre Company, world premiere), Mark Schultz's The
Gingerbread House (stageFARM at the Rattlestick, world premiere), Donald
Margulies' Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (Long Wharf Theater, East
Coast premiere), Elizabeth Meriwether's The Mistakes Madeline Made
(Naked Angels, world premiere), new plays by Adam Rapp, Schultz, and
Meriwether as part of SPIN (Cherry Lane), Lewis Black and Rusty Magee's
The Czar of Rock and Roll (Joe's Pub), his own adaptations of Ubu Roi
and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Williamstown), and
the 2009 TFI Sloan staged readings for the Tribeca Film Festival.
Upcoming: David West Read's The Dream of the Burning Boy at the O'Neill
National Playwrights' Conference and the World Premiere of Michele
Lowe's Map of Heaven at Denver Center Theatre. He has developed new
works by: Carly Mensch (Playwrights Horizons), Rajiv Joseph (Vineyard),
Lucy Thurber (MCC), Molly Smith Metzler (MTC), Steven Levenson (LCT3),
Zayd Dorn (Naked Angels), David West Read (Roundabout), Annie Baker,
Beau Willimon, Liz Flahive (all at Ars Nova) and many others. Five
seasons at the Williamstown Theater Festival, including the 2003 Boris
Sagal and 2002 Bill Foeller Fellowships. Recipient of the 2008 Claire
Tow Award for Emerging Artists.
THERESA REBECK (Associate
Artist) is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and
abroad. Her newest work, The Understudy, premiered at the 2008
Williamstown Theatre Festival and ran in New York at the Laura Pels
Theater in a Roundabout Theatre Company production as part of their 2009
- 2010 season. Past New York productions of her work include Mauritius
at the Biltmore Theatre in a Manhattan Theater Club Production; The
Scene, The Water's Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels
at Second Stage; Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House at
Playwrights Horizons; and View of the Dome at New York Theatre Workshop.
Omnium Gatherum (co-written, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003)
was featured at the Humana Festival, and had a commercial run at the
Variety Arts Theatre. All of Ms. Rebeck's past produced plays are
published by Smith and Kraus as Theresa Rebeck: Complete Plays, Volumes
I, II and III and in acting editions available from Samuel French or
Playscripts. Ms. Rebeck's other publications are Free Fire Zone, a book
of comedic essays about writing and show business. She has written for
American Theatre Magazine and has had excerpts of her plays published in
the Harvard Review. Ms. Rebeck's first novel, Three Girls and Their
Brother, was published by Random House/Shaye Areheart Books in April
2008 and is available online and at booksellers everywhere. Her second
novel, Twelve Rooms With A View, will be published by Random House/Shaye
Areheart Books in May of this year. In television, Ms. Rebeck has
written for "Dream On," "Brooklyn Bridge," "L.A. Law," "American
Dreamer," "Maximum Bob," "First Wave," and "Third Watch." She has been a
writer/producer for "Canterbury's Law," "Smith," "Law and Order:
Criminal Intent" and "NYPD Blue." Her produced feature films include
Harriet the Spy, Gossip, and the independent features Sunday on the
Rocks and Seducing Charlie Barker, an adaptation of her play, The Scene.
Awards include the Mystery Writer's of America's Edgar Award, the
Writer's Guild of America award for Episodic Drama, the Hispanic Images
Imagen Award, and the Peabody, all for her work on "NYPD Blue." She has
won the National Theatre Conference Award (for The Family of Mann), and
was awarded the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award in 2003 for
The Bells. Mauritius was originally produced at Boston's Huntington
Theatre, where it received the 2007 IRNE Award for Best New Play as well
as the Eliot Norton Award. Ms. Rebeck is originally from Cincinnati
and holds an MFA in Playwrighting and a PhD. in Victorian Melodrama,
both from Brandeis University. She is a proud board member of the
Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis University and Columbia
University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Jess Lynn and two
children, Cooper and Cleo.
Roundabout Theatre Compnay is a
not-for-profit theatre dedicated to providing a nurturing artistic home
for theatre artists at all stages of their careers where the widest
possible audience can experience their work at affordable prices.
Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the revival of
classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by
established playwrights and emerging writers; educational initiatives
that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model
and audience outreach programs that cultivate loyal audiences.
Roundabout
Theatre Company currently produces at three permanent homes each of
which is designed specifically to enhance the needs of the Roundabout's
mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for
Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with
its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new
plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American
Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's
Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its
musical and special event productions. Together these three distinctive
venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.
The
Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre reflects Roundabout's
commitment to produce new works by established and emerging writers as
well as revivals of classic plays. This state-of-the-art off-Broadway
theatre and education complex is made possible by a major gift from The
Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. The Trust was created in
1986 by Harold Steinberg to promote and advance American Theatre as a
vital part of our culture by supporting playwrights, encouraging the
development and production of new work, and providing financial
assistance to theatre companies across the country. Since its inception,
the Trust has awarded over $45 million to more than 100 not-for-profit
theatre organizations.
American Airlines is the official
airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Flatotel is the official hotel of
Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are made possible,
in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York
Department of State, the New York State Department of Education, and the
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Roundabout
Theatre Company thanks The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Harold
and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; New Play Production Fund Partners:
Jodi and Daniel Glucksman, The Laura Pels Foundation, and Laura S.
Rodgers/The Honorable Ann W. Brown & Donald A. Brown; Musical
Theatre Fund Partners: Marty and Perry Granoff, HRH Foundation, Ted and
Mary Jo Shen, Peter and Leni May, Tom and Diane Tuft, The Kaplen
Foundation, and one anonymous donor; and Play Production Fund Partners:
Beth and Ravenel Curry and The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
Roundabout
Underground is also supported, in part, by funds from the City of New
York Theater Subdistrict Council, LDC, the City of New York, and The
Educational Foundation of America.
Roundabout Theatre Company's
2010-2011 season features George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession, starring Cherry Jones & Sally Hawkins, directed by Doug Hughes;
Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, adapted and directed by Emma Rice; Kim
Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still, directed by Sam Gold; Julia Cho's The
Language Archive, directed by Mark Brokaw; Oscar Wilde's The Importance
of Being Earnest, starring and directed by Brian Bedford; Tennessee
Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore starring Olympia
Dukakis, directed by Michael Wilson; Anything Goes starring Sutton
Foster, directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Roundabout's
sold-out production of The 39 Steps made its third transfer to the New
World Stages after a successful Broadway run at three Broadway theatres.
For more information, please visit http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/
Published August 5, 2010
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