BROOKLYN: The Civilians has announced the members of its 10th annual R&D Group, comprised of playwrights, composers, and directors who form a writing group for nine months developing new plays and musicals. The work of the 2020-21 group will culminate in a reading series of the works-in-progress called the Findings Series, which is anticipated to take place in June 2021.

“The sheer talent and curiosity we encountered in this year’s applicants proved exceptionally heartening,” said  R&D program director Ilana Becker in a statement. “This season’s R&D Group artists, in particular, inspired us with their visionary and deeply personal approaches to questions that demand illumination.”

This year, the Civilians received a record number of applications. The 268 applications marked a 60 percent increase from last year, according to a release. The members of the Civilians’ 2020-21 R&D Group are Galia Backal, Nana Dakin, Isabella Dawis, Jacinth Greywoode, Jaime Lozano, Emily Lyon, AriDy Nox, Reynaldo Piniella, Tylie Shider, Tidtaya Sinutoke, Rachel Stevens, Ken Urban, and Noelle Viñas.

The works in development include Sunwatcher, with libretto by Dawis and music by Sinutoke; Black Girl in Paris, with music by Greywoode and book and lyrics by Nox; Desaparecidas (Working Title), with music and lyrics by Lozano and co-created by Lozano and director Stevens; Dissentary, by Piniella; Reset: Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World, by Shider; The Moderate, by Ken Urban; and El Cóndor Mágico, by Viñas.

Full descriptions of the R&D artists and projects can be found on the Civilians’ website.

The Civilians, founded in 2001, make new works at the intersection of the theatrical and the real that has been produced at major New York and regional theatres.