Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Every summer for eleven seasons the Hangar Theatre has selected four playwrights to receive a Lab Company Playwriting Residency.  The winning playwrights from around the country are brought to Ithaca to develop their play with actors, designers, and a director from the Hangar’s Lab Company.  Together, this team transforms the original one-act into a fully executed production in the Wedge, the Hangar’s black-box performance space.

Over fifty plays were submitted for this years’ contest, which ended March 15.  The winning plays and playwrights will be announced at the end of May.  Choosing the four plays is an exciting process for the Hangar artistic staff.  “We're interested in each writer's experience, their journey as a playwright, the theme and story they've chosen, and the future they have in American theatre,” said Wendy Dann, associate artistic director for the Hangar.

The playwrights will be offered a two or three-week residency with the Hangar Theatre in July and August, providing them the time, space, and creative energy necessary to develop their play. The playwrights work with Drama League directing fellows during their residency and the connections made over the summer continue longer after. 

The Hangar is also committed to developing the newly forged relationship with the playwrights far beyond one summer. "Since my first production in the Wedge in 1998, the Hangar Theatre has been my true artistic home.  Though it’s extraordinarily valuable to me that the Hangar has produced three of my plays, what has been of more value, ultimately, has been the thoughtful and honest nurturing and developing of these works and my voice as a writer,” said playwright Kenny Finkle, author of Indoor/Outdoor, which was produced in the 2009 Mainstage Season.

Other alumni from the Lab Company Playwriting Residencies include Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Kathryn Walat, Heather MacDonald, Betty Shamieh and many others currently making their mark on the American theatre scene.

In addition to the four new plays, four previously produced plays will be chosen to complete the Wedge season at the Hangar.  Wedge performances are free and open to the public.

----
v5i12