The 2023 conference includes partnerships with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Indianapolis Shakespeare Company, and more.
The New Harmony Project (Lori Wolter Hudson, artistic director; David Hudson, executive director), an organization dedicated to supporting writers interrogating the complexity of hope, has announced the lineup for their 36th annual spring conference in idyllic New Harmony, Indiana. A group of over 50 participants will gather for residencies May 24-June 4, 2023.
Following an intensive selection process that saw over 400 applications, a diverse, 26-person, paid selection panel made recommendations for the 2023 company. The incredible group of selected artists includes Bleu Beckford Burrell (La Race), Darren Canady (Brothers of the Dust), Jessica Huang (The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin), Cheryl L. Davis (JED, 2021 Maven Screen Media Fellow), Christina Pumariega (Joan Dark), Omer Abbas Salem (Mosque4Mosque), James Still (The House that Jack Built), and Kalean Ung (Letters from Home).
Additionally, after an incredibly successful collaboration with Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Center Theatre Group in 2019 to develop King James by Rajiv Joseph, The New Harmony Project is thrilled to continue the Production in Residence program. MEXODUS by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson will be in residence ahead of a world-premiere production with Baltimore Center Stage and Mosaic Theater Company. WIPEOUT by Aurora Real de Asua will also be in residence in partnership with Chicago’s Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, and the theatrical adaptation of Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow’s book YOUR NAME IS A SONG by Shavonne Coleman and composer Eugene H. Russell IV, co-commissioned by Seattle Children’s Theatre and Alliance Theatre, will have their first workshop at the 2023 conference.
NHP will continue their multi-year partnerships with Steppenwolf Theatre Company with the development of Nancy García Loza’s new play ASCENT (or the eighth wonder), and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival with residencies for five Michael Kanin Playwriting Award Winners and a dramaturgy fellow, who will be announced at a later date. The Project will also welcome ML Roberts in collaboration with the Indianapolis Shakespeare Company to support a new commission.
In addition to the numerous writers and partner organizations, NHP will provide on-site dramaturgical support from NHP Resident Dramaturg Phaedra Michelle Scott, in addition to Megan Monaghan Rivas (artistic director, Connecticut Repertory Theatre) and Rebecca Adelsheim (MFA, Yale School of Drama). Also, for the first time, NHP alum christina michelle watkins, LCSW, will be on-site support as the Conference Peer Wellness Consultant.
“Returning to workshopping scripts alongside our classic residencies for the first time since Covid feels fantastic! We had an overwhelming number of applicants and projects to choose from this year, and what a joy to be celebrating the 36th spring conference–David and my final program as senior leaders–with such an outstanding cohort of artists. We look forward to providing a restorative place to work, a nurturing environment to reset, and a supportive community of artists to inspire the development of new work that will change the world” says artistic director, Wolter Hudson.
The final weekend Celebration of New Plays will run June 2nd & 3rd in New Harmony, IN, and will feature readings and events celebrating the 2023 writers and conference participants. Tickets and hotel accommodations can be purchased at newharmonyproject.org/2023
The New Harmony Project boasts an impressive roster of past participants including Erika Dickerson-Despenza (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner cullud wattah, 2019 Princess Grace Award), Rajiv Joseph (King James, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Robert Schenkkan (All the Way, The Great Society, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner), Theresa Rebeck (Bernhardt/Hamlet, NBC’s Smash, Seminar), Lee Blessing (Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee, A Walk in the Woods), Anthony McCarten (Bohemian Rhapsody, The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour) Steven Dietz (Lonely Planet), Donnetta Lavinia Grays (Where We Stand, Last Night and the Night Before), Vichet Chum (Bald Sisters, 2018 Princess Grace Award), James Still (four time Pulitzer Prize nominee, The Velocity of Gary), Meredith Stiehm (Emmy winner, Homeland, Cold Case), Danny Strong (two time Emmy winner, Empire, Lee Daniels’ The Butler), George Brant (Grounded, Marie and Rosetta), Idris Goodwin (Break Beat Play, How We Got On), Regina Taylor (Drowning Crow, Crowns), Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51, Actually), Dael Orlandersmith (After the Flood), Jim Leonard (Major Crimes, Dexter), Ngozi Anyanwu (The Homecoming Queen, Good Grief), Mark St. Germain (Freud’s Last Session, The Cosby Show), Matt Williams (Home Improvement, Roseanne), David McFadzean (Home Improvement, Roseanne) and Angelo Pizzo (Rudy, Hoosiers).
In April of 1986, a group of theater, film, and television professionals gathered in Indianapolis to explore the trend in the entertainment arts toward exploitative and sensational material. They concluded there was a need to engage and support writers whose work sought a goal beyond mere entertainment, work that sought to empower and uplift. It was out of this meeting that The New Harmony Project was created. For more than three decades, The New Harmony Project has been serving writers whose work emanates hope, courage, and the strength and resiliency of the human spirit. We elevate stories for theater, television, and film that inspire, enlighten, and endeavor to make the world a better place. In early 2022, The New Harmony Project adopted a new mission and strategic vision focused on building a more just, equitable, antiracist, and impactful organization. For more information visit www.newharmonyproject.org/strategic-plan.
The New Harmony Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. For information on how to support this unique and worthwhile organization, please visit www.newharmonyproject.org.
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