Karen Zacarías will be a resident playwright at Arena Stage as part of the theater’s new, “The American Voices New Play Institute” program. The news of Zacarías’ appointment came with the announcement that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has made a $1.1 million gift in support of this new initiative.
Along with the residency, one of three that last for three years, the New Play Institute offer fellowships designed to help producers understand and learn the best practices of managing a new play’s development path. The Institute will also feature an extended seminar each year for audiences interested in deepening their understanding of how new plays reach the stage. Additionally, the initiative will help to continue the theater’s relationship with the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA)’s New Play Development Program hosted by Arena Stage, which features the NEA “Outstanding New American Play” and “Distinguished New American Play” projects.
In addition to these four programs, the New Play Institute will host national new work showcases; hold new play development meetings and symposia and establish an extensive web-based clearinghouse of information relevant to understanding the new play development in America. This activity will all take place in the Arena Stage’s new multi-theater complex, The Mead Center for American Theater, currently under construction in Southwest D.C.
For further information, visit www.arenastage.org.
