Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, has just announced the second round of The 2011 Edgerton Foundation New American Play awards, granted to TCG member theaters across the U.S. The awards, totaling $762,000, allow 22 theaters extra time in the development and rehearsal of new plays with the entire creative team, helping to extend the life of the play after its first run.
Over the last five years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded $4 million to 150 recipients, enabling many plays to schedule subsequent productions following their world premieres.

Ten made it to Broadway, including Curtains, 13, Next To Normal, 33 Variations, In the Next Room (or the vibrator play), Time Stands Still, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, A Free Man of Color, Good People and Chinglish. Seven plays were nominated for Tony Awards, and four were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

"The initial response to a world premiere production in New York often dramatically impacts the future life of a play as well as a playwright's entire career," said Neil Pepe, artistic director of the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, New York. "This makes it all the more imperative that we have ample resources to fully develop and rehearse a new play before its premiere production."

Submitting Works to TCG for Consideration

TCG member theaters with a strong and consistent track record of producing new work are invited by the foundation to submit letters of inquiry to plays@edgertonfoundation.org. A panel of readers then reviews the plays, and one-time grants ranging from $5,000 to $75,000 are awarded.

"Support from the Edgerton New American Plays Fund makes it possible for theaters such as my own to contemplate producing new work. In Maine, it is difficult to find the resources necessary to give new projects the rehearsal time they require to launch successfully, "said Anita Stewart, executive and artistic director of Portland Stage (Portland, ME). "New play development should infuse the heart and soul of theaters in a variety of communities. Audiences everywhere need to be invited to participate in the scary, messy, exhilarating process of bringing a new work to life, and writers deserve the opportunity to see the impact of their work on a community."