Literary Development Initiative
At a theatre where the word on the page is the primary focus, giving playwrights the same nurturing environment that we have always provided for our actors is essential to our mission. In the 2004/05 Season, thanks to the generosity of David & Mary Winton Green, we launched our formalized Literary Development Initiative through which we establish a dialogue between the theatre and noted playwrights from across the United States in order to commission, develop and produce new and adapted works.
Writers’ Theatre is proud to announce the following projects in development:
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Award-winning composer Josh Schmidt, who wrote the music to 2009's A Minister's Wife, is teaming up with Austin Pendleton, the bookwriter for A Minister's Wife, and lyricist Todd Almond to adapt the biography and fiction of Russian writer Nikolai Gogol into an original musical. |
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Nationally-acclaimed writer and director Chay Yew is working on a commission that is currently untitled and in an early stage of development. |
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Randall Colburn's highly acclaimed and controversial play Hesperia received its world premiere at Writers' Theatre in February 2012, and will go on to a high profile production in New York in the near future. He is currently under commission and working on a new play that is currently untitled and in an early stage of development. |
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Emerging Chicago playwright Philip Dawkins has just begun a new commission that is currently untitled and in an early stage of development. |
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We are also proud to announce the continuing success of some of our previous projects:
Keith Huff's The Detective's Wife received its world premiere at Writers' Theatre in 2011, directed by Gary Griffin and featuring actress Barbara Robertson. The play (the second in a trilogy of police plays that began with A Steady Rain) is slated to be produced in Portland (Hellfire Productions), Los Angeles (The Road Theatre) and Milwaukee (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre) in the coming year.
A Minister's Wife received its New York premiere at Lincoln Center Theater in April 2011, after being developed and premiering at Writers' Theatre in May 2009. The musical, which is based on the play Candida by George Bernard Shaw, is adapted by Austin Pendleton, with lyrics by Jan Tranen and music by Josh Schmidt, the highly-acclaimed and award-winning composer of Adding Machine. Artistic Director Michael Halberstam directed both the Glencoe and New York productions, and will direct the first regional production of the musical at San Jose Repetory Theatre in June 2013.
Brett Neveu's Old Glory enjoyed its Los Angeles premiere in March 2010 at The New Victory Theatre Center in Burbank, CA. The play was commissioned by Writers' Theatre and received its world premiere here in February 2009. In February 2011, Writers' Theatre premiered another Neveu commission, Do The Hustle.
Evan Smith's The Savannah Disputation premiered at Writers' in 2007 and has enjoyed subsequent stagings including productions at Playwrights Horizons, The Old Globe, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Olney Theatre Center, and Florida Studio Theatre.
Crime and Punishment, adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus, had its world premiere in Glencoe in 2003. Writers' Theatre then produced the play's New York premiere at 59E59 Theaters in 2007. Since then, the play has been produced by Arden Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, The Cleveland Play House, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Jungle Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, CENTERSTAGE, American Players Theatre, and Trinity Repertory Theatre.
*Playwrights interested in submitting their work to Writers’ Theatre, please click here.
