Off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre has announced that it will welcome four award-winning playwrights to its residency program: Stephen Adly Guirgis, Dave Malloy, Dominique Morisseau, and Lynn Nottage. The new playwrights-in-residence will be the first appointed under the leadership of the Signature’s new artistic leader, Paige Evans.
Pulitzer Prize winner Guirgis, whose play Between Riverside and Crazy played two acclaimed engagements Off-Broadway, will join Signature as the Residency One Playwright as part of the 2017–18 season. Residency One is the Signature’s core, one-year Playwright-in-Residence program, which involves an intensive exploration of the writer’s body of work.
Fellow Pulitzer Prize winner Nottage, who will soon make her Broadway debut with her acclaimed play Sweat, will follow Guirgis as the Residency One Playwright during the 2018–19 season.
In addition, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 creator Malloy will join Signature’s Residency Five program, which guarantees playwrights three premieres over five years. Malloy will be the first musical theatre writer to have a residency at Signature. Drama Desk Award winner Morisseau (Skeleton Crew) will also be welcomed as a Residency Five playwright. The duo joins the theatre’s current pool of Residency Five playwrights, made up of Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan, and Regina Taylor.
“Signature has worked with tremendous playwrights over the past 26 seasons. I am delighted, in my first season as artistic director, to welcome these four writers to the company and look forward to giving them an artistic home,” commented artistic director Evans in a press statement. “Stephen, Lynn, Dave and Dominique are gifted, dynamic writers whose work explores the human condition in insightful and distinctive ways. I cannot wait to celebrate them and share their work with Signature’s vibrant and diverse community.”
Titles, dates, and creative teams for works by these four playwrights will be announced at a later date.
The Signature is currently set to present the world-premiere productions of Everybody, by Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Lila Neugebauer, and Wakey, Wakey, written and directed by Eno. To purchase tickets call Ticket Services at (212) 244-7529 or visit SignatureTheatre.org.
