NEW YORK CITY: Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre and the publisher of American Theatre, has announced the recipients of the 2025 Edgerton Foundation New Play Awards. The awards, totaling $783,000, allow 16 world premiere plays extra time for development and rehearsal with the entire creative team. This support aims to encourage and bolster future productions.
“Each year, the Edgerton Foundation’s support shines a bright light on new play development,” said LaTeshia Ellerson, TCG’s co-executive director of national engagement, in a statement. “By giving playwrights, directors, and their collaborators more time to experiment and refine, these awards ensure that the transformative stories can take root and thrive beyond their premieres.”
The plays include:
- ReCON$truXion at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, by Robert Schenkkan
- Dear Alien at Alley Theatre, by Liz Duffy Adams
- Fremont Ave at Arena Stage, by Reggie White
- Cowboys and East Indians at Denver Center Theatre Co., by Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler
- Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia at Geffen Playhouse, by Beth Hyland
- Ashland Avenue at Goodman Theatre, by Lee Kirk
- Iceboy! at Goodman Theatre, by Erin Quinn Purcell & Jay Reiss
- The Heart at La Jolla Playhouse, by Kait Kerrigan
- The Recipe at La Jolla Playhouse, by Claudia Shear
- Aztlan: a Journey Back to Homeland at Magic Theatre, by Luis Alfaro
- The Balusters at Manhattan Theatre Club, by David Lindsay-Abaire
- The Land of the Living at National Theatre, by David Lan
- My Joy is Heavy at New York Theatre Workshop, by The Bengsons
- The Woman Question at People’s Light, by Suli Holum
- Giulia at Perelman Performing Arts Center, by Jennifer Nettles
- The Monsters: A Sibling Love Story at Two River Theater, by Ngozi Anyanwu
Over the last 19 years, the Edgerton Foundation has awarded $19,670,534 to 569 productions, helping lead to nearly 1,600 subsequent productions at TCG member theatres following their world premieres. 43 Edgerton-winning plays have made it to Broadway, and 21 of them have been Tony-nominated, with All the Way, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and Oslo winning Best Play or Best Musical. 16 plays have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with wins for Primary Trust (2024), English (2023), The Hot Wing King (2021), Cost of Living (2018), Hamilton (2016), The Flick (2014), Water by the Spoonful (2012), and Next to Normal (2010).
National Theatre in America expressed gratitude to the Edgerton Foundation for selecting The Land of the Living. “This support was so important in giving the creative team the time and freedom they needed to fully realize their collective vision and stage this powerful story,” executive director Kirsten Hughes said in a statement.
For Liz Duffy Adams’s Dear Alien, getting an additional week of rehearsal makes “a tremendous difference,” said Alley Theatre artistic director Rob Melrose in a statement, as “the titular role is on stage the entire show, and it is going to be quite a challenge.” He continued: “Supporting new plays is incredibly important for the health of the American theatre.”
The Edgerton Foundation New Plays Program, directed by Brad and Louise Edgerton, was piloted in 2006 with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. The Edgertons launched the program nationally in 2007 and have supported 569 plays to date at over 50 theatres across the country.
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 750 organizations (including member theatres, affiliates, universities) and over 3,000 individual members.
