Primary Stages is proud to have the Latinx Playwrights Circle as our Company-in-Residence since 2019. We have worked with LPC by offering meeting space (both physical and virtual!), co-producing the Infinite Stories and the 2020 Intensive Reading series and hosting 2019’s Latinx Theatre State of Emergency. It is an honor to support this community of artists and share their work with audiences around the city.
The Latinx Playwrights Circle started as a "pop up" Playwright Circle organized by Chicago playwrights Nancy García Loza and Isaac Gomez in October 2017. From there, the group has been spearheaded and organized by playwrights Guadalís Del Carmen (Ars Nova Resident Artist) and Oscar A. L. Cabrera (The Public Emerging Writers Group) with Janio Marrero serving as Executive Director. Their mission is to create a network of Latinx playwrights that theaters can get to know by offering space where the playwrights can hear their plays out loud in an environment that nurtures and uplifts their work with the goal to eventually develop new work that is ready to be workshopped/produced in NYC. The group is mentored by Janio Marrero, Migdalia Cruz, Carmen Rivera, and Cándido Tirado.
For more information on NYC Latinx Playwright Circle, email nyclatinxcircle@gmail.com or visit www.latinxplaywrights.com. The group can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/latinxplaywrights.
Primary Stages is thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2021 Jeffry Melnick Award is Noelle Viñas.
“Noelle Viñas is a truly singular artist. Her work is at once personal and deeply imaginative, delving into the evocative space in between realities. She boldly explores provocative themes like religion, politics, and identity with a grounded empathy and creative theatricality. We are thrilled to be able to honor her with this award and hope that it makes more people aware of this extraordinary playwright.” - Primary Stages Associate Artistic Director, Erin Daley
In 2015, Jeffry Melnick worked with Primary Stages to set up an annual playwriting award for an exceptional playwright who has yet to have had a major production. Jeffry believed that talent often goes unrecognized and wanted to honor those whose work so often goes under the radar.
For this year’s award, Primary Stages reached out to a slate of artists from across the field to submit nominations. This year's nominators were Inda Craig-Galván, Susan Soon He Stanton, and the Latinx Playwrights Circle (Guadlís del Carmen and Oscar A.L. Cabrera, Artistic Directors). The other finalists for this award were Lena Barnard, J. Nicole Brooks, and Andrew Rincón.
Noelle Viñas is a playwright, educator, and theater-artist from Springfield, Virginia and Montevideo, Uruguay. Her play Derecho (2019 John Gassner Playwriting Award, 2019 Jane Chambers Honorable Mention) was workshopped as part of the 2020 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Latinx Playwrights Circle 2020 Reading Series at Primary Stages. Recent commissions include Feel the Spirit for Shotgun Players, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company for her short play Zoom Intervention (NY Times Critic's Pick), and the book for The Long Horizon, a space musical with music by Jonathan Kirby for Imagination Stage's Speak Out Onstage Ensemble. She is a resident artist at Colt Coeur and a member of The Civilians' 2020-2021 R&D Group. Previously, she was part of Playwrights Foundation's four-year Resident Playwrights Initiative and a 2019 Artist-in-Residence at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. BA: Emerson College; MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College. Viñas resides in Brooklyn where she is a proud member of the NYC Latinx Playwrights Circle.
ABOUT THE TOW FOUNDATION: The Tow Foundation, established in 1988 by Leonard and Claire Tow, funds projects that offer transformative experiences to individuals and create collaborative ventures in fields where they see opportunities for breakthroughs, reform, and benefits for underserved populations. Investments focus on the support of innovative programs and system reform in the fields of juvenile and criminal justice, medicine, higher education, and culture.
The Tow residency program includes a full-time salary for each playwright, funds to support their integration into the theater’s day-to-day operations, and a guaranteed full production of their play by the sponsoring theater company. The goal is to offer playwrights the opportunity to focus on their craft, gain experience and insight into all aspects of the nonprofit theater world, and debut their work. The eleven theaters and their playwrights were selected after a competitive application process.
For more information, visit http://www.towfoundation.org.
Tow Supported Activities: peerless, Production Date TBD; Experimental Writers Salon; peerless design workshop
Jiehae Park's plays include peerless (Yale Rep premiere, Cherry Lane MP, Marin Theatre Co, Barrington Stage, First Floor, Company One, Moxie), Hannah and the Dread Gazebo (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Here We Are Here (Sundance Theater-Makers residency, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Princess Grace Works-in-Progress at Baryshnikov Arts Center), and contributions to Wondrous Strange (Humana/Actor’s Theatre of Louisville). Her work has been developed through the Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab, the Public’s Emerging Writers Group, p73’s i73, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, Atlantic, Old Globe, Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Ojai Conference, BAPF, and the amazing Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Awards: Leah Ryan, Princess Grace, Weissberger, ANPF Women’s Invitational; two years on the Kilroys List. Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, McCarter, Yale Rep, Geffen, OSF, Williamstown, MTC/Sloan. Residencies: MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman. As a performer, she most recently appeared in Ripe Time, Naomi Iizuka's adaption of Murakami's SLEEP at BAM Next Wave 2017. She is a NYTW Usual Suspect, LCT New Writer in Residence, former Hodder Fellow, and current member of New Dramatists. TV: staff writer, season one of Marvel's RUNAWAYS. BA, Amherst; MFA, UCSD.
Tow Supported Activities: Feeding the Dragon, produced in Primary Stages 2018/2019 Season; New play development support
Sharon Washington has been a working actress for over 25 years, and her debut as a playwright, Feeding the Dragon, made its NYC premiere at Primary Stages in 2018. The play received its world premiere at City Theatre in fall 2016. Previous Primary Stages appearances were in While I Yet Live and String of Pearls. Other recent Off-Broadway appearances include Dot (Vineyard Theater); Wild with Happy (Public Theater - Lucille Lortel nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress; Audelco Award); Luce (Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3); and The Overwhelming (Roundabout Theater). Sharon appeared on Broadway in The Scottsboro Boys, the last collaboration of the the legendary team of Kander & Ebb in the role she originated Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theater. Select regional credits include: Dot (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Intimate Apparel (Guthrie Theater); Merry Wives of Windsor and King Lear (Denver Center); Jar The Floor (Seattle Rep); The Story (Long Wharf Theatre). Sharon's most recent film appearance was playing opposite Danny DeVito in Wiener Dog. Other film and television credits include: "Gotham," "Blue Bloods," "The Blacklist," "White Collar," Taking Chance, "Royal Pains," "Damages," MistressAmerica, The Bourne Legacy, Michael Clayton, School of Rock, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Malcolm X, Die Hard With A Vengeance, the web series "Hustling" (for which she received a 2015 Indie Series Award), "Law & Order," "Law & Order: CI," and "Law & Order: SVU," where she can occasionally be seen on the bench as Judge Virginia Hayes. You may also recognize her voice from her narrations of several documentary series including Animal Planet, Discovery and NOVA. MFA: Yale School of Drama. BA: Dartmouth College. The Dalton School.