New Play Development

Current Winners

2009 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition Finalists
(L to R): Paul David Young, Dana Formby, Rachel May (Synchronicity Artistic Director), Virginia Grise and Emily Schwend

2010-2011 winner David Robinson's artistic sensibilities are formed in equal parts by the austerity of endless Twin Cities winters and the balmy exuberance of South Florida. A native Minnesotan, David received his BA in Literature/Theater from the New College of Florida and will finish Ohio University's MFA Playwriting Program, where he studies under Charles Smith and Erik Ramsey. His work has been performed at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater, Ohio University and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival's Region II. During his time at Ohio University, David has developed seven plays, including Family Matters, which was selected as a semifinalist for the 2009 WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory. Outside of the realm of dramatic writing, David has written theater and film criticism for The Bradenton Herald and the film magazine CineACTION. He is also the recipient of Ohio University's 2009 Scott McPherson Playwriting Award.

CARAPACE (at the Alliance Theatre February 11 – March 13, 2011): Jeff is a man on a mission to do right by his daughter on her 23^rdbirthday. First – figure out where she lives. Second – find an open pet store. Third – navigate his Oldsmobile past the wrecked 35W Bridge. Fourth – stop for a drink. Just one.

“The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive" sings Bruce Springsteen on the radio – and Jeff knows a last chance when he sees it.

Joe Luis Cedillo is a Chicano Playwright-Director, and DJ at the University of Iowa (Playwright's Workshop). Iowa directing credits include: 7 DAYS: A FANTASIA ON THE LIFE OF MILES DAVIS; A HISTORY OF BAD IDEAS; and PLACING OUT. Sound design: WALKIN' BACKWARDS; WAITING FOR LEFTY; and ON PAINTED SKIN (music composition). Plays: 69 PORTRAITS OF CHE; TEXTBOOKS & FENCES; and ON PAINTED SKIN to name a few. In Los Angeles, he was Artistic Director for the Tres Chingasos Theatre Collective, member of the MET Theater Company, SOB Theater Company, Urban Ensemble Theatre Collective and Center Theater Group. Production Dramaturg/Literary Manager for Houston’s Alley Theatre and current Associate Artistic Director for Texas State’s Black and Latino Playwright's Conference. Dramaturg credits include: JOURNEY'S END, THE CLEAN HOUSE, and SUBJECT TO FITS. New play development: he’s worked with playwrights Elaine Romero, Gus Edwards, Amparo Garcia-Crow, Judy Tate and Robert Schenkkan. Recognitions: ON PAINTED SKIN 2008 Bay Area Playwright's Finalist & Runner up Kennedy Center’s Latino Playwrighting Award; 2009 Oregon Shakespeare Festival FAIR Fellow; a Theatre Master; and Core Member Apprentice for the Playwright's Center. Currently directing his play, DRY, and his new play COLUMPIO will be performed in Iowa’s New Play Festival.

NOCHE Y MOURNING: On the eve of Dia de los Muertos, a Chicano man facing surgery for his Cancer fights for his life and for his death. His poetic journey through the night, finds him struggling with the roots of his dis-ease from before he was born to the darker places of his soul. On the verge of the end, can he find the peace he desperately desires?

Will Fancher is currently in his final semester of study at Boston University's MFA Playwriting program. His work has been showcased at Boston Playwrights Theatre, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, the O'Neill Theatre Center National Critics Institute, the 2009 WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory (Clemson, SC), Middle Tennessee State University, and Art House Productions (Jersey City, NJ). Originally from Memphis, TN.

THE RIVER WAS WHISKEY: It's raining again in Moonlight, Mississippi--1946. They're saying the river might flood again, like it did in '27. Everett Evans hasn't had a drink in a year. and maybe this time he can pull himself together. He's been a soldier, a preacher, a sinner, a drunk--but he's never been a quitter. He almost has his head above water, but then the boy shows up in his kitchen--starving, black, and angry, with all the forces of Hell (or is it Heaven?) at his command. THE RIVER WAS WHISKEY looks at the moments that scar a man's heart, the secrets we bury away, and asks whether there is such a thing as redemption.

Shane Sakhrani was born in Hong Kong to Indian parents. He also has lived in Canada and London, but unfortunately never in India. After many years of experiencing crippling cultural confusion everywhere he went, Shane is finally comfortable describing himself as a ‘Global Indian’. Currently, he lives in Los Angeles and is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dramatic Writing (Playwriting and Screenwriting) from the University of Southern California. Before turning to writing, Shane practiced as a corporate lawyer in Hong Kong.

Shane is a member of the editorial board of Yuan Yang, the literary journal of the University of Hong Kong. His one-act plays have been performed in London, and his plays and short stories have been published in Hong Kong. He is currently working on a number of stage plays and screenplays that examine the South Asian Diaspora from a comedic perspective. His plays include The Doctor Is Indian, A Life of Her Own and Hero Hindustani.

THE DOCTOR IS INDIAN: The Gupta family of Marine Drive, Mumbai, India is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The family business they have struggled to build has just been wound up at the hands of a huge American corporation. Amit refuses to let his wife work even though she has more education than him. Amrita is a slowly ageing divorceé. Anil who has just returned from a placement in America and now dating a white girl is at odds with his father Ashok and threatens to put an end to their joint family structure. A poisonous legacy threatens the security of the family home. Traditionally, Indian families would have suffered these struggles with quiet resentment. But in the modern age of globalization, with the erosion of the joint family structure in India, perhaps Indian families would be willing adopt Western methods of communication to resolve their differences. Will family therapy led by a therapist named Britney put an end to the conflicts within the Gupta family or will it put an end to the Gupta family itself? A globalization comedy in two acts.

Martín Zimmerman is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright currently in his final year in the MFA Playwriting Program at the University of Texas at Austin. His work has been produced or developed in New York, Minneapolis, Austin, Washington DC, Maryland, and North Carolina. White Tie Ball was workshopped at The Kennedy Center, is currently a semifinalist under consideration at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, and was a semifinalist for The WordBRIDGE Playwrights Lab. Seven Spots on the Sun received a Core Apprentice Workshop at The Playwrights’ Center and was a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Three Movements received a workshop production on Theatre Row (NYC), was a finalist for The Drama League's New Directors/New Works Grant, and a semifinalist for The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference. Martín has also been a finalist for Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award, received the Louis Sudler Award in the Arts, and has assistant directed for Steven Dietz at Austin's Zachary Scott Theatre. BA in Theater Studies, BS in Economics: Duke University.

WHITE TIE BALL: After being elected the first Latino Pima County Attorney in half a century, Edward Moreno’s bond with his brother Beto is the strongest it has been in years. But when one of Beto’s former friends kills an on-duty police officer as she breaks into the friend’s home under questionable circumstances, Edward has to prosecute the case. The decisions Edward faces about what charges to pursue not only put his career in jeopardy; they also re-ignite long-suppressed tensions between Edward and Beto, who share the same parents but not the same skin color.

10/11 Judges

Mark Valdez, Playwright and educator
Jack Dillon, Director, Sarah Laurence faculty member
Jim Nicola, AD New York Theatre Workshop