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By Jacob Coakley
In The Greenroom
theatre buzz
Sundance Institute Taps Storytelling Fellows
The Sundance Institute and Time
Warner Inc. have started a new
project called the Time Warner
Storytelling Advancement Fund.
The Fund provides substantial support
over four years to help fund
Sundance Institute’s development
and celebration of independent artists
across the Sundance Institute’s
core programs.
The new Time Warner Storytelling
Advancement Fund has two main
components. The first is the establishment
and specialized support
of the Time Warner Storytelling
F e l l o w s , a t a l e n t e d g r o u p o f
Sundance film and theatre artists (up
to 20 fellows over a four-year period)
whose work uniquely positions
and advances the concept of storytelling.
Fellows will each receive a
grant to enable them to focus specifically
on the advancement of the
narrative and voice in their projects.
The second component is the piloting
of activities to explore ideas in
advancing storytelling throughout
the broader arts landscape, including
public readings and creative
roundtables.
Playwright Tracey Scott Wilson
has been chosen as one of the inaugural
Fellows, based on her project
The Good Negro. Wilson will receive a
$5,000 grant and will be given a combination
of year-round guidance,
residency support, mentoring, work
presentation, professional development
and ongoing investment.
Shakespeare & Company
Festival Receives Grant
Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass.,
has received a $5,000 grant from Berkshire Bank
Foundation targeted directly to support the company’s
19th annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare. The festival
is a nine-week residency program, which brings
Shakespeare to over 500 students and 10 high schools
participating, largely in Berkshire County, Pioneer
Valley and eastern New York. It concludes with a fourday
marathon of Shakespeare’s plays performed by
the students at Shakespeare & Company’s Founders’
Theatre. Students display teamwork and enthusiasm
by experiencing first-hand the vibrancy and relevance
present in Shakespeare’s work. The culminating marathon
of performances runs Nov. 15–18 and is open to
the public.
T Fellowship Recipients Announced
for Theatre Producing Program
The T Fellowship Commitee has announced
the accepted fellows for the inaugural year of the T
Fellowship, a new theatre producing program inspired
by the work of Broadway producer T. Edward Hambleton.
The 2007–2008 T Fellows are John Pinckard and Orin
Wolf. The fellowship begins immediately.
The T Fellowship was created in an effort to encourage
a new generation of creative theatrical producers,
those who initiate work from the ground up, following a
path all their own. It was created to honor the legacy of
Broadway producer T. Edward Hambleton by supporting
and developing emerging theatrical producers.
The program is run by Columbia University’s School
of the Arts. The T Fellowship Committee members will
serve as mentors to the selected fellows.
Human Race Honors Schwartz, Helps Local Students
The Human Race Theatre Company in Dayton, Ohio,
has announced that in honor of musical theatre legend
Stephen Schwartz — composer of Godspell, Pippin, The
Baker’s Wife, Children of Eden, Working, Wicked — and its
current premiere of SNAPSHOTS: A Musical Scrapbook,
it has created the Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre
Scholarship — designed to support singer/actors in
the greater Dayton area who are training for a career in
musical theatre.
A $1,500 scholarship will be made to a high school
senior who has been accepted into a college program
and plans to train in musical theatre. A $3,500 scholarship
will be awarded to a college student who is currently
training for a career in musical theatre.
“The musical theatre survives and flourishes only with
the infusion of new talent,” said award-winning composer
Stephen Schwartz. “I’ve always tried to support and
encourage emerging talent, and so I am proud and excited
to have this new scholarship named for me.”
All applicants must have a permanent address in
Montgomery County, Ohio, or one of seven contiguous
counties (Preble, Darke, Miami, Clark, Greene, Warren or
Butler), OR be currently enrolled at a college in one of
the eight counties previously listed. Preliminary auditions
will be held this fall, with the final audition planned
before a live audience at The Loft Theatre in April
2008. To download the scholarship application, go to
www.humanracetheatre.org/ScholarshipApplication.pdf.
10 November 2007 • www.stage-directions.com