The primary purpose of the residency is to allow the playwright to write plays.  The intent is to advance professional outcomes for the participating writers as well as to help Arena test and develop best practices for such residencies in theaters around the country. The design of the Playwright Residencies are based on the following principles:

• Writers need time to write.
• Many writers find it helpful to be around other writers.
• Development processes need to be designed with and for Playwrights.
• Playwrights need producing support for a successful process.

Download the Resident Playwright Fact Sheet >
Download a Project Residency Fact Sheet >

ABOUT THE RESIDENT PLAYWRIGHTS

	Amy Freed is author of Restoration Comedy, The Beard of Avon, Freedomland, Safe in Hell, The Psychic Life of Savages and other plays. Her work has been produced at South Coast Rep, NYTW, Seattle Rep, ACT, Yale Rep, California Shakespeare, Berkeley Rep, Goodman, Playwrights Horizons, Woolly Mammoth and other theaters around the country. Her recent play You, Nero debuted at South Coast Rep in January 2009 and was produced at Berkeley Rep in June 2009. Her latest play, Right to the Top, will have its first reading at Pacific Playwrights’ Festival in April 2010. Freed received the Joseph Kesselring Award, Charles MacArthur Playwriting Award, several L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Freedomland. She is an artist-in-residence in the drama department of Stanford Univ. She has been playwright-in-residence for South Coast Rep and recently served as playwright-in-residence for San Diego's Old Globe.
	Katori Hall is a playwright-performer from Memphis. Her plays include Hoodoo Love, Remembrance, Hurt Village, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, The Mountaintop (2010 Olivier winner for Best New Play), WHADDABLOODCLOT!?!?, The Hope Well and Pussy Valley. Other awards include 2009/10 Lark Play Development Center PONY Fellowship, Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, two Lecomte du Noüy Prizes from Lincoln Center, Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, Van Lier Fellowship from the Public Theater, NYFA Fellowship and Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. Recently, she was short-listed for the London Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award and received the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award from the William Inge Theatre Festival. Hall has been commissioned by National Theatre in London, Public Theater and Women’s Project. She is a graduate of Columbia, Harvard and Juilliard. www.katorihall.com
	Lisa Kron has been writing and performing theater since moving to New York from Michigan in 1984. Her work has been widely produced at theaters such as the Public Theater, NYTW, Arena Stage, ART, Huntington, ACT, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Tokyo’s Rinkogun, Barbican and on London’s West End. Her plays include: In the Wake (co-premiere at CTG and Berkeley Rep; NY premiere at Public Theater, fall 2010); Well (premiere at Public Theater, 2004; named one of the year’s 10 best plays by New York Times, AP, Newark Star-Ledger and Back Stage; Broadway premiere 2006, two Tony noms); and 2.5 Minute Ride (NY premiere at Public Theater, 1999; Obie, L.A. Drama-Logue and GLAAD Media awards; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle noms). Kron is also a founding member of the beloved Obie- and Bessie Award-winning collaborative theater company The Five Lesbian Brothers, whose plays include Brave Smiles, The Secretariesand Oedipus at Palm Springs (NYTW). Lisa has received: playwriting fellowships from the Lortel and Guggenheim foundations, Sundance Theater Lab and Lark Play Development Center; an NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Fellowship; the CalArts Alpert Award; and grants from Creative Capital Foundation and NY Foundation for the Arts. Projects in development include a musical with composer Jeanine Tesori, a new play for Drew Univ., and another for the Sloan Foundation through Playwrights Horizons. Lisa teaches playwriting at Yale School of Drama.
	Charles Randolph-Wright’s plays include Blueand Cuttin' Up (which have had sold-out runs at Arena Stage and been produced around the country) and most recently The Night Is a Child (starring JoBeth Williams at Pasadena Playhouse). His directing credits with Arena Stage include Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated LadiesandGuys and Dolls (both starring Maurice Hines),Oak & Ivy, Anthems, Señor Discretion Himself and Cuttin' Up. His directing credits include the 75th anniversary international tour of Porgy and Bess, Daniel Beaty in Through the Night (Geffen Playhouse), They're Playing Our Song in Brazil (in Portuguese), Brian Stokes Mitchell in Love/Life (Lincoln Center), Tough Titty (Williamstown), Blood Knot (music by Tracy Chapman at ACT), among other productions at Roundabout, NY Shakespeare Festival, NYTW, MTC, Mark Taper and Carnegie Hall. Randolph-Wright wrote and directed the upcoming film Mama, I Want to Sing! and directed the award-winning film Preaching to the Choir. TV directing credits include Lincoln Heights, South of Nowhere and the Nike Freestyle Soccer campaign starring Ronaldinho. He also produced and wrote Showtime's critically acclaimed series Linc's.
	Karen Zacarías’ plays include Legacy of Light, the adaptation of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Mariela in the Desert, The Book Club Play and The Sins of Sor Juana. Her children’s musicals include Looking for Roberto Clemente, Chasing George Washington, Ferdinand the Bull, Einstein Is a Dummy, Jane of the Jungle and Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans. Her plays have been produced at Arena Stage, Kennedy Center, Goodman, Denver Center, Round House, Arden, Cleveland Play House, Alliance and many more. Her awards include: 2010 finalist for the Steinberg Award for Best New American Play (Legacy of Light); Francesca Primus Prize (Mariela in the Desert); National Latino Play Award, AT&T/TCG First Stages Award, Susan S. Blackburn Award finalist, New Voices Award and Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play (The Sins of Sor Juana). Karen lives in D.C. with her husband and three young children. She is also a playwriting professor at Georgetown Univ. and founding artistic director of Young Playwrights’ Theater in D.C.

ABOUT THE PROJECT RESIDENTS

David Henry Hwang’s plays include M. Butterfly (1988 Tony Award for Best Play, 1989 Pulitzer finalist), Yellow Face (2008 Obie for Playwriting, 2008 Pulitzer finalist), Golden Child (1997 Obie, 1998 Tony nom for Best Play), FOB (1981 Obie) and The Dance and the Railroad. He wrote libretti for the Broadway musicals Aida (co-author, with music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song (2002 revival, Tony nom for Best Book of a Musical) and Disney’s Tarzan (with songs by Phil Collins). His opera libretti include four collaborations with composer Philip Glass — 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, The Voyage (Metropolitan Opera), The Sound of a Voice and the upcoming Icarus at the Edge of Time — as well as Bright Sheng’s The Silver River, Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (2007 Grammy awards for Best Opera and Best Classical Composition), Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (Opernwelt 2007 World Premiere of the Year) and Howard Shore’s The Fly. Hwang penned the feature films M. Butterfly, Golden Gate and Possession (co-writer) and also co-wrote the song “Solo” with Prince. His newest play, Chinglish, will premiere in 2011 at Chicago’s Goodman Theater, co-produced with the Public Theater in New York. Hwang attended Stanford Univ. and Yale School of Drama and served by appointment of President Clinton on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Lynn Nottage is a playwright from Brooklyn. Her plays include Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or The Re-education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas and Ruined. They have been produced and developed at theaters nationally and internationally. She has received numerous awards, including the 2007 MacArthur “Genius” Award, Obie for playwriting, NY Drama Critics Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle’s Best Play and John Gassner awards, American Theatre Critics Steinberg 2004 New Play Award, 2004 Francesca Primus Award and two AUDELCO awards. Nottage’s most recent publications include: Intimate Apparel and Fabulation (TCG) and an anthology of her plays, Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Other Plays (TCG), which includes Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers and Poof! She was awarded a 2007 Lucille Lortel Foundation Fellowship, 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship, National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award and 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama. She is a graduate of Brown Univ. and Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer. Nottage is also a recent graduate of New Dramatists. www.lynnnottage.net

Residency Design

• Three-year terms for three playwrights (one local, two non-locals) to write and develop new plays.
• Each playwright will receive an Arena Stage commission, annual stipend, health benefits and housing (for non-locals) as well as a budget to cover collaborating artist fees and development expenses to be managed by the playwright.
• Arena Stage will retain rights for the Arena Stage commission ONLY; all other work completed during the residency will be unencumbered.
• The Resident Playwrights will work with New Play Producing Fellows (link to New Play Producing Fellows page) who will produce all new play development activities during their residency.
• The Resident Playwrights will have access to and be welcome to participate in any Arena Stage activities that draw their interest. 

Timeline
Karen Zacarías began her Residency on January 1, 2010.  Resident Playwrights Lisa Kron and Amy Freed begin July 1, 2010, along with Project Residents David Henry Hwang and Lynn Nottage.  Katori Hall and Charles Randolph-Wright will begin on January 1, 2011.