Programs
Mentor Project
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Cherry Lane’s Obie Award-winning Mentor Project is the cornerstone of our development programs. Mentor Project engages leading dramatists in one-on-one mentoring relationships with emerging playwrights for a theater season, the result of which is a showcase production in our Studio theatre.
Save the Date! Announcement Night for Mentor Project 2014 is Monday, December 2, 2013.
Reservations required: company@cherrylanetheatre.org
Sponsor a Mentor Project Playwright!
About the 2013 Playwrights:
Mentored by Cynthia Hopkins
Directed by Bryan Davidson Blue
February 20 - March 2, 2013
Presented as an evening of solo performance along with "Joe"
Lisa Ramirez is an award winning actor and playwright. Her solo show, EXIT CUCKOO (nanny in motherland) was presented Off Broadway by the Working Theater (Directed by Colman Domingo). Other writing credits include; ART OF MEMORY, a dance theatre piece that was presented by Company SoGoNo at 3-Legged Dog in New York. (Conceived and directed by Tanya Calamoneri); INVISIBLE WOMEN-RISE, a collaboration with the Foundry Theatre and Domestic Workers United. Ten domestic workers performed at the historic Riverside Church in New York (Lisa Ramirez directed); TO THE BONE, a new play that was commissioned by the Working Theater about the mostly Latina/immigrant women who live and work up in Sullivan County, New York’s poultry plants. TO THE BONE was a 2011 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist and a 2011Smith Prize Finalist. Currently, Lisa is one of four playwrights in residency at INTAR’s Maria Irene Fornés Hispanic Playwrights in Residency Lab and is writing a new play called ALL FALL DOWN.
JOE by Elizabeth A. Davis
Mentored by Enda Walsh
Directed by Chris Henry
February 20 - March 2, 2013
Presented as an evening of solo performance along with "Pas de Deux (lost my shoe)"
View photos and show details in Mentor Project History
Elizabeth A. Davis is currently in the 2012 Tony Award winning musical ONCE as 'Reza' for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role. Her last year and a half also include ONCE at New York Theatre Workshop and American Repertory Theatre at Harvard. Previously Elizabeth was seen Off Broadway in THE 39 STEPS, WOLVES, EMILY (Best Actress IT Award Winner) and DALLY WITH THE DEVIL. Regionally, featured credits include THE MISANTHROPE at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Bill Mastrosimone's RIDE THE TIGER at Florida Stage, DOUBT at Gulfshore Playhouse, OPUS at Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at The Cleveland Playhouse and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU at Great Lakes Theatre Festival. TV: Fringe, All My Children and White Collar. Elizabeth has created a webseries called UNDERGROUND SOUND that is currently in further development. She was also seen last year in Lincoln Center's Portraits in Dramatic Time. A long time violinist and essayist, this is Elizabeth's first play. www.elizabethadavis.com
LAWNPEOPLE by Natalia Naman
Mentored by Eduardo Machado
Directed by Elena Araoz
March 13-23, 2013
View photos and show details in Mentor Project History
Natalia Naman’s plays include THE OLD SHIP OF ZION, LAWNPEOPLE and CROSSING OVER. Her work has been developed and performed at the Lark Play Development Center, HERE Arts Center, The Cherry Pit, New Georges, Manhattan Theatre Source and Boston Playwrights' Theatre. Natalia is a writer for Company One/Boston Center for the Arts’ 2013 XX Playlab, a founding member of New York Madness, a three time nominee for TDF's Wendy Wasserstein Prize and the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Senior Thesis Award in Princeton's Theater Dept for THE OLD SHIP OF ZION. She holds a BA from Princeton and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. Learn more at www.natalianaman.com.
EXILE by Nastaran Ahmadi
Mentored by Kia Corthron
Directed by Lisa Peterson
April 3 - 13, 2013
View photos and show details in Mentor Project History
Nastaran Ahmadi's plays include Molly's 25th (art.party.theater.company, 2012), Exile (Finalist, 2012 O'Neill Fest; Honorable Mention 2012 Jane Chambers Award), The Bet (Workshop in Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2012 Black Swan Lab), Doctoring (Finalist, 2010 O'Neill Fest; Honorable Mention 2010 Jane Chambers Award), The War Is Over (Yale Cabaret, 2006), Strangers (The Ontological-Hysteric Theater 2009 “Incubator” Series), and Layla and Majnun (Carlotta Festival, 2006). Nastaran attended The Exchange's Orchard Project in June 2012 to develop her new play with original music, Rocket Song. Nastaran was a 2011-2012 Writing Fellow at The Playwrights Realm in NYC and a 2011-2012 Writer-in-Residence in Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace program. She received an Honorable Mention in 2010 for the Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. Nastaran is delighted to have been invited to serve on The Lark Play Development Center's Artistic Advisory Board for the 2012-2013 Season. Member Playwright: Lark Play Development Center (Monthly Meeting of the Minds, 2012/13). MFA: Yale School of Drama, Playwriting (ASCAP Cole Porter Prize). www.nastaranahmadi.com
About the 2013 Mentors:
KIA CORTHRON (mentoring Nastaran Ahmadi) Kia Corthron's plays include A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick (Playwrights Horizons co-production with The Play Company and the Culture Project), Trickle (Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Marathon), Moot the Messenger (Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival), Light Raise the Roof (New York Theatre Workshop), Snapshot Silhouette (Minneapolis’ Children’s Theatre), Slide Glide the Slippery Slope (ATL Humana, Mark Taper Forum), The Venus de Milo Is Armed (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Breath, Boom (London's Royal Court Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre and elsewhere), Force Continuum (Atlantic Theater Company), Splash Hatch on the E Going Down (New York Stage and Film, Baltimore's Center Stage, Yale Rep, London's Donmar Warehouse), Seeking the Genesis (Goodman Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club), Digging Eleven (Hartford Stage Company), Life by Asphyxiation (Playwrights Horizons), Wake Up Lou Riser (Delaware Theatre Company), Come Down Burning (American Place Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre), Cage Rhythm (Sightlines/The Point in the Bronx). Awards and fellowships include the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Creative Arts Residency (Italy), Dora Maar Residency (France), MacDowell Colony, Siena Arts Institute Visiting Artist (Italy), Playwrights Center’s McKnight National Residency, Masterwork Productions Award, the Wachtmeister Award, Columbia College/Goodman Theatre Fellowship, Barbara Barondess MacLean Foundation Award, AT&T OnStage Award, Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, Mark Taper Forum's Fadiman Award, National Endowment for the Arts/TCG, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, New Professional Theatre Playwriting Award, Callaway Award, and in television a Writers Guild Outstanding Drama Series Award and Edgar Allan Poe Award for The Wire. Most recently Kia has written a novel. She currently serves on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, is a member of the Writers Guild of America, and is an alumnus of New Dramatists.
CYNTHIA HOPKINS (mentoring Lisa Ramirez) is a writer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and theater artist. She creates and performs unique multi-media performance pieces that intertwine truth and fiction and have won her a host of awards, including the 2007 Alpert Award in Theater and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship. Through the process of making performances, she attempts to alchemize disturbance into works of intrigue and hope that simultaneously stimulate the senses, provoke emotion, and enliven the mind. She has created four full length multi-media performance works - Accidental Nostalgia (2005 Bessie Award for Creation), Must Don't Whip 'Um (2007 Bessie Award for Design), The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success) (conceived as Parts I, II, and III of The Accidental Trilogy); and The Truth: A Tragedy. These works feature the band Gloria Deluxe (www.gloriadeluxe.com), which Ms. Hopkins formed in 1999 and which has since produced eight full-length albums and performed at numerous venues in New York City and elsewhere. The work of Ms. Hopkins has been presented internationally, most recently at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco; Soho Rep and St. Ann’s Warehouse in New York; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; Theatre National de Chaillot in Paris, France; Les Subsistances in Lyon, France; and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Ms. Hopkins is currently at work on the creation of This Clement World, a new piece addressing the climate crisis.
EDUARDO MACHADO (mentoring Natalia Naman) was born in Cuba and came to the United States when he was nine. He grew up in Los Angeles. He is the author of over forty plays, including The Cook, Havana is Waiting, The Modern Ladies Of Guanabacoa, Fabiola, In the Eye of the Hurricane, Broken Eggs, Once Removed, A Burning Beach, and Stevie Wants to Play the Blues. His plays have been produced at Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre, Hampstead Theatre in London, American Place Theatre, The Cherry Lane Theatre, INTAR Theatre, Theater for the New City, and Repertorio Español, among many others. Mr. Machado wrote and directed the film Exiles in New York, which played at the A.F.I Film Festival, South by South West, The Santa Barbara Film Festival and The Latin American International Film Festival in Havana, Cuba. He has taught playwriting at Columbia University (where from 1997—2007 he was the Head of Playwriting), the Public Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Sarah Lawrence College and the Playwrights Center. From 2004—2010 he was the Artistic Director of the off-Broadway INTAR Theatre in NYC. Mr. Machado is a member of the Actors Studio, The Ensemble Studio Theater, and an alumnus of New Dramatists, and has served on the boards of TCG, New Dramatists and Theatre for the New City. Mr. Machado is currently the Head of Playwriting in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. “Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile’s Hunger for Home,” a food memoir by Eduardo Machado and Michael Domitrovich, was released by Gotham Press in 2007. A new collection of his plays entitled Havana is Waiting and Other Plays was published by TCG in Spring 2011.
ENDA WALSH (mentoring Elizabeth A. Davis) is a multi-award winning Irish playwright. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and has been performed internationally since 1998. His recent plays include Misterman, produced by Landmark and the Galway Arts Festival, which has played Ireland, New York and the Royal National Theatre, with Cillian Murphy. Penelope, which has been presented in Ireland, America and Britain, from 2010 – 2011. The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, New York and LA from 2008-2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh, London and New York, as well as an American and Australian tour, from 2007-2010. All produced by Druid Theatre. He has written the Tony Award winning book for the musical Once, which is currently playing on Broadway. His other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican); Chatroom (Royal National Theatre), The Small Things (Paines Plough), Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Disco Pigs (Corcadorca). His film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4) and the forthcoming, Weightless (Smuggler Films, New York).
Select Mentor Project Success Stories
Katori Hall’s Hoodoo Love (Lynn Nottage, mentor 2006) Following its Mentor Project production, Cherry Lane Theatre presented the World Premiere production of Hoodoo Love in its Discovery Series, 2007 (Nominated: Three 2006 AUDELCO awards, winning for Best Supporting Actress). Chicago's The Collective Theatre presented Hoodoo Love in 2012, directed by Nelsan Ellis. Katori’s other credits include: Olivier Award, Broadway: The Mountaintop (starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett), later produced by Milwaukee Rep (2012) and Philadelphia Theatre Company (2013). Awards include Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award; 2nd place, Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at the 2005 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival; 2007 Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama. Other plays: Freedom Train, Awake, Hurt Village (Signature Theatre, 2012; Hattiloo Theatre, Memphis, 2012) and Diaspora, awarded the 09-10 Playwrights of New York Fellowship through the Lark Play Development Center. Currently, the American premiere of Children of Killers, Castillo Theatre, 2012.
Rajiv Joseph Huck and Holden (Theresa Rebeck, mentor, 2005). Cherry Lane Theatre presented the World Premiere production of Huck & Holden in its Discovery Series, 2006. Subsequently produced at The Black Dahlia Theatre in Los Angeles, 2006. Rajiv’s other credits include Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist, winner of an NEA Outstanding New American Play Award, Broadway in 2011 (starring Robin Williams), Drama League Award nomination: Distinguished Production of a Play, four Los Angeles Ovation Nominations including Playwriting for an Original Play; produced at Roundhouse Theatre (MD), 2012; 2004 John Golden Award for Playwriting; 2005 Dramatists Guild Fellow; 2008 Vineyard Theatre’s Paula Vogel Award; 2009 Kesselring Fellowship, 2009 Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Emerging Writers Playwright award. Other plays include: Gruesome Playground Injuries (Alley Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Second Stage, Theatre intime, Second Thought, INTIME), Out of Paper (Second Stage Theatre), The North Pool (Theatreworks, Barrington Stage Company, Vineyard Theatre), and The Monster at the Door (Alley Theatre).
Eliam Kraiem Sixteen Wounded (Michael Weller, mentor, 2002). Long Wharf Theatre, 2003 and on Broadway, 2004
Sheila Callaghan Lascivious Something (Michael Weller, mentor, 2006) World premiere production at Women’s Project in a co-production with Cherry Lane Theatre, 2010. Sheila’s plays have been produced at Soho Rep, Playwright's Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Actor's Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, Woolly Mammoth, and Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre, among others. She has received the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists; Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis; MacDowell Residency; Susan Smith Blackburn Award; Whiting Award; international productions in New Zealand, Norway, Germany, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. Plays include SCAB, CRAWL FADE TO WHITE, CRUMBLE (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), WE ARE NOT THESE HANDS, DEAD CITY, LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING, KATE CRACKERNUTS, THAT PRETTY PRETTY; OR, THE RAPE PLAY, FEVER/DREAM, and PORT OUT, STARBOARD HOME. Affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb; Member of the Obie winning 13P; Resident of New Dramatists; Profiled by Marie Claire as one of "18 Successful Women Who Are Changing the World"; Named one of Variety magazine's "10 Screenwriters to Watch" of 2010
David Adjmi Strange Attractors, (Craig Lucas, mentor, 2001) World Premiere production: Seattle’s Empty Space Theatre, 2003. Other credits: Juilliard playwriting fellowship; 2002 Lecomte Du Nouy Award; a Writer-in-Residency, Royal Court Theatre; 2003 Helen Merrill Award; 2004, Northern Lights: the 9/11 plays, Illusion Theatre in Minneapolis. 2008 World Premiere The Evildoers, Yale Repertory Theater. 2008 world premiere Stunning, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, LCT3 at the Duke on 42nd Street; 2009 Bush Foundation Fellowship, Steinberg Emerging Playwright Award, 2011 Whiting Writers’ Award. 2012 World Premiere of 3C by piece by piece productions, Rising Phoenix Repertory, and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.
Anton Dudley slag heap (Ed Bullins, mentor, 2003) Cherry Lane Theatre presented the World Premiere production of slag heap in its Discovery Series, 2005 (starring Vincent Kartheiser and Polly Lee). Later produced in 2006 by Theatre Pro Rata. Anton’s other credits include: 2003 The Lake’s End Adirondack Theatre Festival; 2004 Triptych Entertainment musical based on Twelfth Night; Getting Home, Second Stage Theatre 2006. 2008 The Intentional Theatre Group UP HERE/IN HERE, Altered Stages; Short film, DAVY & STU on BOYS LIFE 6. Substitution, Playwrights Realm 2008; A Dram of Drummhicit, co-written with Arthur Kopit, La Jolla Playhouse, 2011; Cherry Lane commission for a new musical based on the story of Orpheus & Eurydice; The Queen of Pop, published by Heuer Publishing 2013.
Julia Cho, 99 Histories (David Henry Hwang, mentor, 2002). 99 Histories was a Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist, 2002. Ms. Cho’s other credits include: The Language Archive, South Coast Repertory 2009, Roundabout Theater Company (2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for playwriting); The Piano Teacher, Vineyard Theater, 2007; Durango, Long Wharf Theatre, Public Theater, 2006; The Architecture of Loss, New York Theater Workshop, 2004; BFE, Playwrights Horizons; 2004-05 L. Arnold Weissberger Award; Playwriting fellow at New York Theatre Workshop; recipient of a New York Foundation for The Arts grant; playwright-in-residence at The Juilliard School.
Bridgette Wimberly’s Saint Lucy’s Eyes (Wendy Wasserstein, mentor, 1999) Cherry Lane Theatre presented the World Premiere production of St. Lucy’s Eyes in its Discovery Series, 2001 (Audelco Awards and a Kesselring Nomination). Bridgette’s works have been presented at: The Women’s Project & Productions, Cherry Lane Theatre, Alliance Theatre Company, Rainbow Theater, 2009. Recent credits include: The Separation of Blood, EST/Alfred P. Sloan Science Foundation-commissioned play, World Premiere, Kuntu Repertory Theatre, 2007; Susan G. Komen grant for From Breast Cancer to Broadway, a program she created to teach playwriting to breast cancer survivors, staged in Cleveland and Cherry Lane.
Christopher Shinn’s Four (Charles Fuller, mentor, 1999) Four has been produced at The Tribeca Playhouse, 2001 and Manhattan Theatre Club, 2002; Currently being adapted for a film version. Other credits include: Other People, Playwrights Horizons, 2000; What Didn’t Happen, 2002; Olivier award nominee, Where Do We Live, London’s Royal Court, 2002, The Studio Theatre, Second Stage, 2004; Obie Award, On the Mountain, Playwrights Horizons, 2004; Dying City, Royal Court Theatre, 2006, Lucille Lortel nomination for best new Off-Broadway play, Lincoln Center Theater, 2007, Signature Theatre 2012, 2008 Pulitzer Prize Finalist; adaptation of Hedda Gabler, Broadway at American Airlines Theatre, 2009; Picked, The Vineyard Theatre, 2011. Now or Later, Huntington Theatre 2012, Boston. The New York Times called Mr. Shinn “among the most promising playwrights to emerge in the last decade.”
Bathsheba Doran’s The Parents’ Evening (Michael Weller, mentor, 2003) was subsequently produced at The Flea Theater, 2010. Other credits include: Living Room in Africa, Edge Theater; Nest, Signature Theater (DC); Until Morning, BBC Radio 4; adaptations of Great Expectations, TheatreworksUSA, Lucille Lortel Theater; Maeterlinck’s The Blind, Classic Stage Company; Ben and the Magic Paintbrush, South Coast Repertory, 2010; Drama League Award nomination: Distinguished Production of a Play, Kin, Playwrights Horizons, 2011; Kin was later produced by Griffin Theatre Company at Theater Wit, Chicago, 2012; 2009 Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award; TV: Boardwalk Empire.
Deirdre O’Connor’s Jailbait (Michael Weller, mentor, 2008) was later produced by Profile Theatre, 2010 & 2011; Silhouette Theatre Company (Denver) 2012; Alliance Repertory Theatre Company (New Jersey), 2012; and Ghostlight Repertory Theatre (Massachusetts). Other credits include: Assisted Living, Profile Theatre, 2011; 2008-09 Lark Playwrights Workshop Fellow; John Golden Playwriting Award; Emmy Award, The Electric Company on PBS; Writers Guild Award Nomination, Five, Lifetime.
Allison Moore’s Urgent Fury (Marsha Norman, mentor 2003) Urgent Fury was one of 36 finalists for the 2002 O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Other credits include: Collapse, National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere: Aurora Theater, Curious Theater, Kitchen Dog Theater, B Street Theater, Third Rail Rep, and Know Theater, 2011-12, Women's Project (2012-13 season); Slasher, Humana Festival at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, 2009, more than a dozen productions around the country; Ivey Award for Best Play, My Antonia, Illusion Theater, 2010 & 2012; Seven Dallas Critics Forum Awards and five Leon Rabin Awards, including Best New Play, End Times, Kitchen Dog Theater, 2007; Hazard Country, Humana Festival, 2005, and regional productions; American Klepto, Illusion Theater; Split, Guthrie Theater; Eighteen, O’Neill Playwrights Conference; CowTown, Guthrie Theater Commission; Two Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellowships; two McKnight Advancement Grants; Bush Fellowship; Iowa Arts Fellowship.
Jakob Holder's Housebreaking (Charles Mee, mentor, 2009) was subsequently produced by Poison Apple Initiative, 2011 and Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (Kansas City), 2013. Published by Dramatists Play Service 2012.
Molly Smith Metzler (Training Wisteria, Jules Feiffer, mentor 2007.) Other credits include: Elemeno Pea, South Coast Rep 2012, Humana Festival, 2011; Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist, Close Up Space, Manhattan Theatre Club, 2012. Her work has been developed by The O’Neill Theatre Center, MTC, Chautauqua Theater Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, hotINK, Playwrights Horizons, and The Kennedy Center. Three KCACTF awards including the Kennedy Center National Student Playwrighting Award; Member of EST, Ars Nova Play Group, and Primary Stages writing group; two-time recipient of the Le Comte du Nouy Prize from Lincoln Center. Currently working on commissions for South Coast Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel Brett Williams’ The Woodpecker (Charles Fuller, mentor, 2008) was subsequently presented by Mutineer Theatre Company, 2011. He is the co-founder of The Camisade Theatre Company, whose recent inaugural production was his own Derby Day at Theatre Row, 2011.
Peter Gil-Sheridan's Topsy Turvy Mouse (Michael Weller, mentor, 2007) was the winner of the Timothy Smith Prize from the National New Play Network. Peter was the recipient of a Jerome Fellowship at the Playwright's Center and was commissioned by the Guthrie Theatre to write a new play which premiered in April 2009. He has had residencies at the Ucross Foundation and the Millay Colony for the Arts. His work has been seen/ developed at New York Theater Workshop, The Lark Theatre, The Sundance Institute, The Kennedy Center, the New York International Fringe Festival, The University of Colorado at Boulder, A Theatre Group of Silverton, Colorado, The Toy Box Theatre, the figments, Working for Tips Productions, Riverside Theatre of Iowa City, and Prospect Theatre Company. Peter is a graduate of the University of Iowa’s Playwright’s Workshop. In addition to teaching at Fordham University, he often guest directs and mentors young directors
Nate Rufus Edelman's The Belle of Belfast (Charles Fuller, mentor, 2010) will receive its world premiere at Ensemble Studio Theatre LA fall 2012. Nate is a writer and director for the stage and screen who divides his time between New York City, Los Angeles and Ireland. His stage plays have been produced and developed at The Vineyard Theatre, Firstlook Theatre, the Celtic Arts Centre, FirstStage, EST/LA, Antaeus Theatre Company, Bank of Ireland Theatre, Samuel Becket Theatre and the Road Theatre. He wrote, produced and directed Twist of Fate for the Galway Arts Festival. He produced and co-directed the Los Angeles premiere of Amy Freed's "The Psychic Life of Savages" at the Los Angeles Theatre Centre with the Latino Theatre Company and the Savage Players, which he is a founding member. His screenplay "The Scavengers" was on Hollywood's "The Black List," which singles out the best yet to be produced scripts. Nate was educated at University of California, Santa Cruz, Trinity College Dublin and received his MFA at New York University.
Cherry Lane Mentor Project: The Buzz
"What the Cherry Lane is doing is so exciting. Most important, I think, is its mentoring program of young playwrights, and while it is nice that the Cherry Lane programming takes care of the important theatrical past, it is the mentoring program which will allow us to have an important theatrical future."
–MP 1999-2013 EDWARD ALBEE
"The Mentor Project is artfully designed to avoid the pitfalls of most play development workshops, directionless rewrites, lack of exposure to actors and audiences, and instead plunges the playwright directly into an intensely practical, tightly focused, experience...The Cherry Lane is doing essential work in building the next generation of American theatre artists."
–MP 2005 Mentor DAVID AUBURN
"The Mentor Project has my enthusiastic support. I have seen performances at the Cherry Lane rival the very finest professional theater this country has to offer."
–Co-Founding and Supervising Mentor 1999-2008 MICHAEL WELLER
"The Cherry Lane's belief in writers is absolute. And whether you are a young playwright staging a new play, or an experienced playwright passing along your advice and comfort, the mentor program at the Cherry Lane works on the most astonishing level, giving people a chance to talk with each other about the nearly impossible but nevertheless thrilling task of writing for the theater."
–MP 2001, 2002, 2003 Mentor MARSHA NORMAN
"Cherry Lane's Mentor Project asked me to read five plays, pick out the best one and be prepared to work with the playwright through drafts, reading, and showcase production. It proved to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my literary life."
–MP 1999, 2008, 2010 Mentor CHARLES FULLER
"I've been in touch with enough other fledgling playwrights to notice that buzz about your program is very good indeed. Writers in it seem happy, and writers outside of it want to get in."
–MP 1999, 2000, 2003 Mentor A. R. GURNEY
"Through the Cherry Lane Mentorship, I have had the privilege of working with two wonderfully gifted and dedicated young writers. They have taught me at least as much as I have taught them, and I am grateful for the opportunity to revisit that electrifying moment when a new playwright first emerges into the theatrical world."
–MP 2001, 2002, 2010 Mentor DAVID HENRY HWANG
"I am honored to be invited into the Cherry Lane Mentor Project. The playwriting art has been at the center of my life for so long that it is a great affirmation to me that an American institution of this historical stature and cultural scope recognized my motivation to serve."
–MP 2003, 2004 Mentor ED BULLINS
"I'm so proud of the Mentor Project and all the playwrights it's supported over the years. I feel so blessed to have been born at the Cherry Lane"
--MP 2006 Finalist Playwright KATORI HALL
Mentor Project History
Mentor Project 2012
Mentor Project 2010
STRAY
by Ruth McKee
mentored by David Henry Hwang
directed by Giovanna Sardelli
with Antony Hagopian, Emily Ackerman, Lisa Ramirez, Petronia Paley and Brianne Berkson
set design by Kina Park
production stage manager: Hannah Perryman
assistant stage manager: Kathryn Habib
March 16 - 27
THE BELLE OF BELFAST
by Nate Rufus Edelman
mentored by Charles Fuller
directed by Eric Tucker
with Katie Fabel, Sam Redford, Elvy Yost, Evan Thompson and Terry Donnelly
set design by Kina Park
production stage manager: Cynthia M. Hennon
assistant stage manager: Kathryn Habib
April 27—May 8
PATERNITY
by Winter Miller
mentored by Craig Lucas
directed by Craig Lucas
with Daphne Rubin-Vega, Nathan Darrow, Ed Vassallo, Stephen Park and Rosalyn Coleman
set design by John McDermott
production stage manager: Cynthia M. Hennon
assistant stage manager: Kathryn Habib
May 18 - 29
Mentor Project 2010
costume design by Rebecca Bernstein
assistant costume design by Florencia Paoppi
lighting design by Pat Dignan
assistant lighting design by Ryan Selig
sound design by Daniel Kluger
props by Teralyn Bruketta
Mentor Project 2009
HOUSEBREAKING
by Jakob Holder
mentored by Charles Mee
directed by Daniella Topol
with Saxon Palmer, Andy Powers, Evan Thompson and Monique Vukovic
set design by Mimi Lien and Amy Rubin
costume design by Theresa Squire
lighting design by Nicole Pearce
production stage manager: Paige van den Burg
assistant stage manager: Mandy Cynkin
March 24—April 4
Mentor Project 2008
THE WOODPECKER
by Samuel Brett Williams
mentored by Charles Fuller
directed by Drew DeCorleto
with Stephanie Cannon, Cosmo Pfeil, Dan Moran, Debargo Sanyal and Matt Unger
assistant stage manager: Alison Hirschlag
March 26—April 5
THE YOUNG LEFT
by Greg Keller
mentored by Gretchen Cryer
directed by Kip Fagan
with Mark Alhadeff, Diane Davis, Joe Tippett, Michael Crane, Keira Keeley and Elisabeth Waterston
assistant stage manager: Nicholas Herbert
April 15—26
JAILBAIT
by Deirdre O'Connor
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Suzanne Agins
dith David Wilson Barnes, Peter O'Connor, Flora Diaz and Natalia Payne
assistant stage manager: Nick Tochelli
May 6 – 17
Mentor Project 2008
set design by Kina Park
costume design by Rebecca Bernstein
lighting design by Pat Dignan
sound design by Daniel Kluger
production stage manager: Mei Ling Acevedo
Mentor Project 2007
THE SECRET AGENDA OF TREES
by Colin McKenna
mentored by Lynn Nottage
directed by Sam Gold
with Patch Darragh, Sarah Lord, Gio Perez, Jedadiah Schultz and Sara Surrey
assistant stage manager: Callan Stout
March 20 - 31
TOPSY TURVY MOUSE
by Peter Gil-Sheridan
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Daniella Topol
with Rosalyn Coleman, Henny Russell, Kelly McAndrew, Daniel Zaitchik, Ian Quinlan, Ted Koch and Gita Reddy
assistant stage manager: Juliana Avery
April 10 – 21
TRAINING WISTERIA
by Molly Smith Metzler
mentored by Jules Feiffer
directed by Leah C. Gardiner
with Angela Ford, Jessica DiGiovanni, Bruce McCarty, Marissa O'Donnell and Matthew Stadelmann
assistant stage managers: Juliana Avery and Alex Orbovich
May 1—12
Mentor Project 2007
set design by Regina Garcia
costume design by Rebecca Bernstein
lighting design by Pat Dignan
sound design by Barbara Vlahides
production stage manager: Mei Ling Acevedo
Mentor Project 2006
LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING
by Sheila Callaghan
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Suzanne Agins,
with Charles Borland, Jessi Campbell, Christina Lind, Danielle Skraastad
stage manager: Scott Earley
March 14 - 25
HOODOO LOVE
by Katori Hall
mentored by Lynn Nottage
directed by Lucie Tiberghien,
with Eric Abrams, Marjorie Johnson, Angela Lewis, Postell Pringle
stage manager: Sara Kmack
April 4 - 15
GIRL.
by Megan Mostyn-Brown
mentored by Theresa Rebeck
directed by Joshua Hecht
with Flora Diaz, Susan Hunt, Jennifer Regan, Maggie Siff, Max Woertendyke
stage manager: Jeff Meyers
April 25 - May 6
Mentor Project 2006
set design by Kerry Chipman
costume design by Rebecca Bernstein
lighting design by Ian Grunes
sound design by Bill Bowen
Mentor Project 2005
THE GRILLE ROOM
by Sam Forman
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Thomas Kail
with Mia Barron, Michael Cullen, Patch Darragh, Beth Dixon, Sam Gordon, Ron Orbach,
Michael Reid
March 15 - 26
MORBIDITY & MORTALITY
by Courtney Baron
mentored by David Auburn
directed by Peter DuBois
with Tasha Lawrence, Greg McFadden, Maulik Pancholy
April 12 - 16
HUCK & HOLDEN
by Rajiv Joseph
mentored by Theresa Rebeck
directed by Giovanna Sardelli
with Cherise Boothe, Nick Choksi, Yvette Ganier, LeRoy McClain, Andres Munar
April 26 - May 14
Mentor Project 2005
set design by Regina Garcia
costume design by Rebecca Bernstein
lighting design by Pat Dignan
sound design by Bart Fasbender
prop design by Christina Lind
production stage manager: Misha Siegel-Rivers
Mentor Project 2004
DOUBLE SOPHIA
by Kendra Levin
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Hayley Finn
with Janine Barris, Flora Diaz, Justin Grace, Kathryn Grody, Scott Klavan, Anna McCarthy, Peter Scanavino
March 10 - 27
WORDSWORTH
by Alexandra Bullen
mentored by Ed Bullins
directed by Richard Caliban
with Richard Hughes, Michael Reid, Chandra Thomas, Anne Louise Zachry
April 7 - 24
THUNDERBIRD
by Joseph Fisher
mentored by A.R. Gurney
directed by Randy White
with Michael Chernus, Tonya Cornelisse, Laura Flanagan, Michael Rudko, Thomas Sadoski, Tamilla Woodard
May 5 – 22
Mentor Project 2004
set design by Lauren Helpern
costume design by Veronica Worts
lighting design by Pat Dignan
sound design by Bart Fasbender
prop design by Faye Armon
production stage manager: Misha Siegel-Rivers
Mentor Project 2003
URGENT FURY
by Allison Moore
mentored by Marsha Norman
directed by Richard Caliban
with Patrick Boll, Halley Feiffer, Carol Halstead, Kathryn A. Layng, Peter Scanavino, John Speredakos, Lindsay Wilson
set design by Kris Stone
production stage manager: Rosie Norman
March 12 - 29
SLAG HEAP
by Anton Dudley
mentored by Ed Bullins
directed by Erica Schmidt
with Brienan Bryant, Caroline Clay, Nina Zoie Lam, Andy Powers, Debargo Sanyal, Yvonne Woods
set design by Kris Stone
production stage manager: Kate Hefel
April 9 - 26
THE PARENTS’ EVENING
by Bathsheba Doran
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Irina Brown
with Lisa Emery, Ken Marks
production stage manager: Kate Hefel
May 7 - June 1
Mentor Project 2003
costume design by Yvonne DeMoravia
lighting design by Brian Aldous
sound design by Bart Fasbender
prop design by Faye Armon
Mentor Project 2002
OUT OF STERNO
by Deborah Zoe Laufer
mentored by Marsha Norman
directed by Eleanor Reissa
with Charles Borland, Dale Carman, Debbie Gravitte, Emily Loesser
set design by Nathan Heverin
costume design by Tracy Christensen
lighting design by Jeff Nellis
sound design by Bruce Ellman
wig design by Robert Charles
prop design by Faye Armon
production stage manager: Samone Weissman
April 2 - 13
99 HISTORIES
by Julia Cho
mentored by David Henry Hwang
directed by Maria Mileaf
with Elaina Erika Davis, Joel De La Fuente, Ann Hu, Mia Katigbak, Darren Pettie, Mia Tagano
set design by Nathan Heverin
costume design by Soonwha Choi
lighting design by Nicole Pearce
sound design by Matthew T. Lebe
prop design by Faye Armon
production stage manager: J.J. Lee
April 23 - May 4
SIXTEEN WOUNDED
by Eliam Kraiem
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Matt August
with Mia Barron, Jane Burd, Edward A. Hajj, Dylan Dawson, Jonathan Hova, Jim Moie,
Martin Rayner
set design by Nathan Heverin
costume design by Aleho Vietti
lighting design by Nicole Pearce
sound design by Bill Grady
prop design by Faye Armon
fight choreography: Michele Lynch
dialect coach: Diego Daniel Pardo
production stage manager: Allison Deutsch
for one week extension: Chime Serra and John Phillips replaced Dylan Dawson and Jim Moie
May 14 - 25
Mentor Project 2001
BLOOD ORANGE
by David Wiener
mentored by David Henry Hwang
directed by Anders Cato
with Julia Gibson, Jonathan Hova, Julienne Kim, Susan Pelligrino, Brian Sacca, Pablo Schreiber, Angela vanden Heuvel
set design by Beowulf Boritt
costume design by Richard Pierce
lighting design by Jeffrey Lowney
sound design by Bill Grady
prop design by Michele Catalano
production stage manager: Steven Gridley
April 11 - 21
CONCERTINA’S RAINBOW
by Glyn O'Malley
mentored by Alfred Uhry
directed by Bob E. Gasper
with Barbara Broughton, Mia Dillon, Anne Pitoniak, Jeffrey Plunkett, Jillian Steward, Joyce Van Patten
costume design by Richard Pierce
lighting design by Jeff Croiter
sound design by David Gilman
paintings by Shirley Kaplan
prop design by Michele Catalano
projection design by Ivory & Chime Serra
production stage manager: Layla Dowlatshahi
May 9 - 19
THE SHOEBOX OF EBBETS FIELD
by Ross Berger
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Hayley Finn
with Nina Landey, Jonathan Press, Ed Vassallo
set design by Beowulf Boritt
costume design by Melissa Schlachtmeyer
lighting design by John Paul Szczepanski
sound design by Robert Kaplowitz
prop design by Michele Catalano
production stage manager: Samone Weissman
May 23 - June 2
STRANGE ATTRACTORS
by David Adjmi
mentored by Craig Lucas
directed by Richard Caliban
with Joanna P. Adler, Andrew Heckler, Michael Marisi, Adrienne Shelly
set design by Beowulf Boritt
costume & set consultant : Rebecca Dowd
lighting design by Shawn Gallagher
sound design by Robert Kaplowitz
prop design by Faye Armon
production stage manager: Sara Sahin
June 6 - 16
THE ALLEGORY OF PAINTING
by Cybele Pascal
mentored by Marsha Norman
directed by Leigh Silverman
with Janine Barris-Gerstl, Angel Desai, Caitlin Gibbon, Tony Hoty, Jerusha Klemperer, John Leone, Annie McAdams, Cody Nickel, Michael Ringer, Garret Savage
set design by Beowulf Boritt
costume design by Rebecca Dowd
lighting design by Shawn Gallager
sound design by Jill DuBoff
prop design by Faye Armon
projection design by Chime & Ivory Serra
fight choreography by Caitlin Gibbon
production stage manager: Tessa Peterson
June 20 - 30
Mentor Project 2000
GUN CLUB
by Hunt Holman
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Amy Feinberg
with Dannah Chaifetz, Jeff Kronson, Linda Larkin, Irene McDonnell, David Newer, Andy Powers, Tibor Feldman
set design by Beowulf Borritt
costume design by Andrea Russell
lighting design by Jason Lyons
sound design by Tim Cramer
stage manager: Joseph Dempsey
April 5 - 14
THE REFRESHMENT OF THE SPIRIT
by Anne Washburn
mentored by Craig Lucas
directed by Anne Kauffman
with Cynthia Adler, Marilyn Bernard, T.R. Knight, Salty Loeb, Susan Pourfar, Margaret Ritchie,
Mara Stephens, Maria Thayer, Trevor A. Williams
set design by Beowulf Borritt
costume design by Andrea Russell
lighting design by John-Paul Szczepanski
sound design by Tim Cramer
production stage manager: Sandra Overstreet
April 26 - 5
AUNT PIECES
by Rosemary Moore
mentored by A.R. Gurney
directed by Michael Sexton
with Barbara Andres, Reed Birney, Caitlin Clarke, Jon DeVries, Autumn Dornfeld, Sean McNall
set design by Beowulf Borritt
costume design by Andrea Russell
lighting design by John-Paul Szczepanski
sound design by Tim Cramer
production stage manager: Elizabeth Tung
May 10 - 19
GOLEM
by Gary Winter
mentored by Alfred Uhry
directed by Hayley Finn
with Yusef Bulos, Jessica Whitney Could, Hank Jacobs, Christopher Messina, Yvonne Woods
set design by Beowulf Borritt
costume design by Deb Millison
lighting design by John-Paul Szczepanski
sound design and original music by Robert Kaplowitz
puppets by Jan Leslie Harding
production stage manager: Scott Robinson
May 24 - June 2
LOWELL LIMPETT
by Ward Just
mentored by Wendy Wasserstein
directed by Bob E. Gasper
with Gerry Bamman
set design by Beowulf Borritt
costume design by Andrea Russell
lighting design by Shawn Gallagher
sound design by Aural Fixation
production stage manager: David P. Smith
June 7 – 16
Mentor Project 1999
RAZING HOUSES
by Lizzie Olesker
mentored by Tony Kushner
directed by Lisa Portes
with Ledlie Borgerhoff, Joel Carino, Carla Harting, Margaret Ritchie
production stage manager: Denise Pera
September 21 - 25
FOUR
by Christopher Shinn
mentored by Charles Fuller
directed by Frank Pugliese
with Isiah Whitlock, Stacy Highsmith, Angel David, Keith Nobbs
production stage manager: Jack Vanderwark
September 14-18
CROCKERLAND
by Peter Buchman
mentored by Michael Weller
directed by Susann Brinkley
with Kevin Patrick Dowling, Jolene Hjerleid, Patricia Mauceri, Ted Neustadt
production stage manager: Kathryn "China" Hayzer
September 28-October 2
ST. LUCY’S EYES
by Bridgette Wimberly
mentored by Wendy Wasserstein
directed by Israel Hicks
with Cecelia Antoinette, Roger Robinson, Kellee Stewart, Kalimi Baxter
production stage manager: Brooke Fulton
October 12-16
NOTES FROM THE CONFEDERACY
by Heather Hill
mentored by A.R. Gurney
directed by Eduardo Machado
with Cara Buono, Lisa Roberts Gillan, Linda Larkin, Yul Vazquez
production stage manager: Lynelle Leigh
October 19-23
Mentor Project 1999
set design by Kristie Thompson
costume design by Sarah Lemire
lighting design by Yael Lubetzky
sound design and original music by J. Hagenbuckle
More About Mentor Project
Mentor Project, our Obie Award-winning program, engages leading dramatists in one-on-one mentoring relationships with emerging playwrights for an entire theater season. Established in 1998, Mentor Project was inspired by an important precursor in residence at Cherry Lane in the 60s: ALBARWILD, a collaboration between producers Richard Barr, Clinton Wilder and playwright Edward Albee, who created production opportunities for such early-career playwrights as Sam Shepard, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), A. R. Gurney and Jean-Claude van Itallie. To date, Mentor Project has nurtured and launched new works by 47 emerging dramatists. The Mentors help the young writers hone their craftsmanship through meetings, readings, and workshops while forming a personal and trusted relationship of support. The project culminates in a showcase production that remains critic-free to avoid commercial concerns that would inhibit the writer's creative process. The Project has elevated a third of its alumni to professional and public notice. Their work has flourished on and Off-Broadway, regionally and around the world. Cherry Lane's Mentors are truly a priceless resource - they count among their distinctions eight Pulitzer Prizes, six Pulitzer Prize nominations, thirteen Obie Awards, eight Tony Awards, six Tony nominations, two Oscars, and an Oscar nomination.
Edward Albee, Charles Fuller, A.R. Gurney, Tony Kushner, Wendy Wasserstein, Michael Weller
Founding Mentors
Angelina Fiordellisi and Susann Brinkley
Mentor Project Founders
What We Provide
To meet the goals of Mentor Project, CLT offers generous rehearsal and performance time within our 60 seat Studio Theatre, publicity, audience outreach for all readings and performances, administrative support, Master Classes taught by our Mentors and other pre-eminent playwrights, culminating in an AEA approved showcase production. We provide financial support in the form of a $5,000 stipend to each Fellow and Mentor. This affords the writer freedom to concentrate on the development of the work and partnership between Master and Fellow.
Time Table and Process
Nomination Process
March 15 - June 15
Cherry Lane Theatre does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Our Nominating Committee consists of a diverse group of theatre professionals from across the country. The Committee members nominate a maximum of three playwrights each. Nominees are mailed notification along with application materials and instructions.
Selection Process
June - October
The Selection Committee reads each submitted play and chooses a group of semi-finalists. Subsequently, each Mentor receives 3-5 scripts from this group and selects the writer with whom they will work. This is a time consuming process and demonstrates the level of commitment each Mentor makes to the Project. At the end of the selection process, we have three distinct voices that will receive the all too rare opportunity to be supported and developed by peers AND receive a production.
Phase One
First Draft Readings - November
The first readings of the three selected plays are held in November. This private reading provides an opportunity for both the Mentor and the Fellow to hear the play read aloud by professional actors. The first reading serves as a formal beginning for their mentoring relationship.
A formal announcement of the season's Mentors and Fellows is scheduled for the first Monday in December. The event is both celebration and performance, as the Fellows read a 10-minute selection from each new play and their Mentors read a selection from one of their earlier plays or works in progress. The evening successfully fosters a strong group dynamic within the community of Mentors and Fellows who will be working together during the season.
Phase Two
Staged Readings - January
Following private exploration and revision, we present public readings of each Fellow's play. The readings, held in January in the Studio at Cherry Lane, are open to the public, which includes many theatre professionals. Mentor and Fellow actively participate in the selection of director and cast. The preparation for the public reading provides an opportunity to hear revisions in front of an audience, experiment with casting and begin to address production needs and challenges.
Phase Three
Three workshops, 12 performances each - March - May
Both Mentor and Fellow have been striving toward this crucial phase. Each of the three plays receives a full production with a professional director, actors and designers. This artistic collaboration with the entire company in preparation for the production provides the basis for the most intense work to occur on the play to date. Revisions are strongly encouraged and supported throughout the three-week rehearsal period and subsequent 12 performances.
Summary
The effectiveness of our Mentor Project program is affirmed by the continued success of the early- career playwrights we have worked with. It is our goal to provide these playwrights with a supportive yet challenging developmental structure for their plays. It is our hope that the writers leave the Mentor Project experience with a stronger draft of their play, an appreciation for what the audience can teach us, a professional working process and a deepened commitment to their craft. They will have benefited from the crucial element of interaction between master and protégé, and realize that it is within a community that the artist thrives. The creative bond and continued relationships of our alumni with their mentors, as well as their lasting membership in the Cherry Lane community is a clear indication of the need for this type of program. Thanks to our gracious mentors, CLT Mentor Project is a rarely experienced phenomenon among playwrights.