For over 25 years, NYTW has honed an artistic fellowship program for early-career theatremakers representing a multiplicity of perspectives. These fellowships have taken many forms, supporting playwrights, directors, designers and administrators.
MIRANDA is a mixed-race, Japanese American theater director and generative artist with a passion for telling stories that are unabashedly sincere, achingly human, and irrevocably alive. She has directed and staged work with the Roundabout Underground Reading Series, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The 24 Hour Plays, New Ohio/Ice Factory, Yale Summer Cabaret, Mercury Store, Shakespeare Academy at Stratford, Moxie Arts NY, the Asian American Arts Alliance, NYMF, and the Hunter MFA Playwrights Festival. As an associate and assistant, she has worked with directors such as Robert Icke, Danya Taymor, Chay Yew, Rachel Chavkin, and Michael Greif at theaters such as NYTW, Park Avenue Armory, The TEAM and Dear Evan Hansen (Broadway and North American Tour). Miranda was the 2020 Van Lier Fellow in Theater at A4 and is a proud member of the 2nd cohort of the Roundabout Directors Group. BA: Vassar College. Mirandacornell.com
THADDEUS is a Brooklyn-based Writer and Performer originally from Madison, Wisconsin. As a playwright, he is a Theater Masters Visionary Playwright, KCACTF National Finalist, Goldberg New Play Prize Finalist, and a SemiFinalist for both the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference & American Blues Theatre Blue Ink Award. As a Television Writer, he is currently a staff writer on the second season of HBOMax’s “JULIA,” is developing his own series with BET+, and is cowriting Audible Originals with both VICE Media and Author James Patterson. As a performer, Thaddeus has worked Off-Broadway, on the high-seas, on the UCBNY Mainstage, and in the Original Cast of Disney’s Freaky Friday the Musical. Thaddeus proudly holds his MFA from NYU and BFA from Ithaca College and as always…’Word to Mom Dukes, to my ‘fam I owe everything!’
AILEEN is a Chinese- and Irish-American theatre director, educator and producer of live events. Her work is imaginative, inclusive, and playfully experimental, coming from a robust background in physical theatre and a deep commitment to hospitality. She became a person in Briarcliff Manor, NY; a theatre maker in Chicago, IL; and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing at Brown-Trinity in Providence, RI. Upcoming work: Jar of Fat and Sense and Sensibility (Northern Stage); A Christmas Carol (Trinity Rep); Murder for Two (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Indecent (Brown University). Past work: The Chinese Lady (Kithen Theatre and Geva Theatre Center); The Late Wedding, The Dumb Waiter, On The Y-Axis, Summer and Smoke, Akira Kurosawa Explains his Movies and Yogurt, and The Tempest (Brown-Trinity); Throwback Island (Writing is Live Festival and Bushwick Starr Reading Series); Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Clubbed Thumb Reading Series); Or, (The Winnipesaukee Playhouse and Portland Stage); Dani Girl (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical and The Snowy Day (Emerald City Theatre); Montauciel Takes Flight (Lifeline Theatre); Ulysses (The Plagiarists); A Hero’s Journey, The Hunting of the Snark, Robin Hood and The Pied Piper (The Forks & Hope Ensemble); The Whiskey Radio Hour, Wake: A Folk Opera, Kodachrome Telephone and Sign of Rain (The Whiskey Rebellion); Gentle, The Edge of Our Bodies, Music Hall, The Anyway Cabaret (TUTA); The Nose and Reika and the Wolves (Mudlark Theatre); and In This Final Century (Theatre-Hikes). She has assisted at The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Trinity Rep, Court Theatre, The Actors’ Gymnasium, The Hypocrites, and The House
ATTILIO is a Chilean theater-maker, video-game designer, and teacher. He has performed, trained, taught, and developed productions around the world, including countries such as Poland, China, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Cuba, the U.A.E. Along with Orsolya Szánthó, he founded the company GLITCH, creating work that seamlessly combines digital, interactive, and physical mediums with new forms of storytelling. The company’s video and technology design has been featured in collaborations with Kaki King, Mason Gross School of the Arts, MIT Music & Theatre Arts, The Juilliard School, as well as in the most recent production of Macbeth on Broadway. Their graphics and video work have been part of promotional campaigns of several Broadway shows like Company and Girl from the North Country. Attilio’s work as a director has been featured at City Lyric Opera, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, NYU Tisch, Toronto Fringe, and Gamiotics Studios, and has been recognized by The New York Times, Vulture and American Theatre Magazine.
ANDREW is an actor and director originally from Mirando City, Texas. Currently based in NYC, Rodriguez remains dedicated to opening the theatrical canon by directing and developing new works not initially meant for the stage, including adapting novels, films, poems, and anthologies. Ranging from intimate, bare productions to maximum, multi-disciplinary work that bridges a unity between text and design, Rodriguez utilizes theater’s boundless, expressive possibilities to explore elements of human behavior and illuminate the stories and perspectives that have been made invisible. Rodriguez is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin (BFA, 2019), a former Acting Apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville (2019 – 2020), and an alumnus of The Juilliard School’s Professional Apprenticeship Program (Drama, 2020 – 2021). He currently works with Atlantic Theater Company’s Conservatory Actor Training Programs. For more information, please visit andrewgrodriguez.com.
MINGHAO is an immigrant playwright from Wuhan, China. Currently, he is a 2050 Artistic Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, a Van Lier Fellow at Rattlestick Theater, and a 2022/23 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center. He has been a resident of Pipeline Theatre Company’s 2020/2021 PlayLab, and a 2021 Travis Bogard Artist-in-Residence at the Eugene O’Neill Foundation. His works have been presented/produced at Tofte Lake Center, Voyage Theater Company, New York Public Library, Yangtze Repertory Theatre of America, Ground Floor Theatre, and UT New Theatre; featured on The Steppenwolf Theatre’s The Mix. Finalist: the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, and the 2021 Woodward/Newman Award at the Bloomington Playwrights Project; Semifinalist: PlayPenn, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, and Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries at American Shakespeare Center. He has been a Jame A. Michener fellow at UT Austin (MFA: 2020).
What is the 2050 Artistic Fellowship?
The 2050 Fellowship is named in celebration of the U.S. Census Bureau’s projection that by the year 2050, there will be no single racial or ethnic majority in the United States.
This projection provokes thoughts at New York Theatre Workshop about the transformations that will take place in the American landscape—demographically, technologically, environmentally, and artistically—now and in the future. They are a catalyst for broader questions about our ever-transforming field. How can theatre challenge our conceptions of storytelling? How can we push aesthetic boundaries in the 21st century? What is the power of theatre today?
Each year we’re honored to invite a cohort of 2050 Artistic Fellows to join us in making art, engaging in deep conversation, and being in community. The 2050 Artistic Fellowship embodies our values of nurturing and cultivating an artistic community that challenges dominant paradigms and amplifying those whose experiences are not often heard.
The 2050 Fellows are early-career artists who, with their unique voices, give us perspective on the world in which we live and who inspire us all to contend with this changing world.
We think broadly about who can initiate a theatrical event (see the FAQ’s for more). The 2050 Artistic Fellowship will accept up to six theatermakers for the 2023-24 Season. These fellowships will entail a commitment from June 2023 to June 2024.
NYTW’s 2050 Artistic Fellowship consists of five basic components:
1) Monthly fellowship meetings where fellows meet with each other and members of the New York Theatre Workshop community to discuss craft, aesthetics, and artistic development;
2) Access to rehearsal space and an opportunity to share work-in-progress with our Artistic staff and entire fellowship cohort;
3) Mentorship from our Artistic Staff and contemporary theatre artists;
4) An invitation to participate in the artistic life of the theater by attending staff meetings, developmental readings, dress rehearsals, and other special events;
5) A three-day weekend retreat at the start and end of the fellowship.
2050 Fellows are awarded both a stipend and an additional artistic development fund that supports Fellowship projects, theatre tickets, research or travel.
Applications for the 2023/24 Artistic Fellowship are closed. The application portal will re-open early Fall 2023.
The 2050 Fellowship supports early-career artists who exhibit outstanding artistry and whose voices are underrepresented in the theatre. We encourage applicants with a unique point of view inclusive of race, ethnicity, gender, faith, socioeconomic status, disability and sexual orientation.
The 2050 Fellowship supports generative artists who author or direct work. We think broadly about what this means—sometimes playwrights, sometimes directors, sometimes solo performers creating their own work. We strive to have a balance of playwrights and directors in the cohort, and ask applicants to identify their main area of practice as well as any other fields where they identify. We recognize that many artists are multi-hyphenate, working with many artistic practices, and provide great latitude in how fellows choose to work.
While we have of course made adjustments during Covid, the 2050 Fellowship is an in-person experience. We accept applications from artists not currently living in New York City; however, applicants must be willing and able to relocate to the NYC metro area for the duration of the fellowship. NYTW is unable to provide housing, relocation or employment assistance. Inability to attend regular meetings and events during the fellowship year may be considered grounds for discontinuation of the fellowship.
Artists who will be enrolled in a full time educational institution (either undergraduate or graduate studies) for the duration of the fellowship year will not be considered. We encourage you to apply during your final year of school to partake in the fellowship upon graduation.
Yes; however, international applicants must take full responsibility for arranging their travel, travel documents and housing accommodations. Inquire with the U.S. Embassy or the consulate with jurisdiction over your place of permanent residence about visa application procedures. Receipt of fellowship stipend is dependent upon the type of visa secured. If awarded a 2050 Fellowship, you must provide the appropriate visa or work authorization and fill out a W-8BEN Form in order to receive the Fellowship stipend. If you cannot provide appropriate documentation, we will be unable to offer a stipend.
The preliminary application consists of a resume and a personal statement. NYTW will then invite those we wish to consider more fully for a 2050 Fellowship. If invited to submit a full application, applicants will be asked to submit further materials that will be due in mid-December. Candidates that are then invited to an initial interview will be notified in February. Candidates that are then still in consideration will be contacted to schedule a group interview in early March.
Applicants will be notified whether or not they are invited to submit a full application by late November with a request for further materials. At that point, candidates will be required to submit:
For Playwrights: A full length play.
For Directors: Up to 6 photos from one or more recent professional or academic production(s) OR up to 3 timestamped moments from recordings of directed work (the 3 clips should total no more than 15 minutes.) And an explanation of 3 of the 6 photos or of the 3 video clips.
For Solo Performers: A Sample of work that you feel best exemplifies your work as a solo artist. Whether this be text, video, or images with description.
Full application details and deadlines will be sent to all candidates who are invited to submit a full application.
Cohort meetings occur once per month and are scheduled prior to the start of the fellowship year. Each fellow is invited to share one work-in-progress during the fellowship, and all fellows are expected to be present at the work-in-progress showings of their peers.
Currently, 2050 Fellows are awarded both a $5,000 stipend and a $5,000 development fund that supports Fellowship projects, theater tickets, research, or travel.
The preliminary applications will be evaluated by members of the NYTW artistic staff; each preliminary application will be read in full by 2 people. The full applications will be read by members of the NYTW artistic staff and a selection of former 2050 Artistic Fellows. Each full application will be read in full by at least 2 people. We’re excited to use this application process as a way to get to know each of the applicants. While we don’t have the capacity to offer fellowships to all who apply, we continue to engage with fellowship applicants in a variety of ways.
Candidates will be contacted by the beginning of February to schedule an initial interview. Candidates still in consideration will be contacted to schedule a group interview in early March. Final decisions and offers will happen at the end of March. All interviews, individual and group, will take place on Zoom.
Inquiries should be sent to fellowshipinfo@nytw.org.
PAST 2050 FELLOWS:
Tara Ahmadinejad
Melis Aker
Michael Alvarez
Elena Araoz
Nissy Aya
Jeff Augustin
Matt Barbot
Hilary Bettis
Lileana Blain-Cruz
Eleanor Burgess
Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm
Jeesun Choi
Shayok Misha Chowdhury
Nana Dakin
Josiah Davis
Nathan Alan Davis
Will Davis
Mashuq Deen
Reginald L. Douglas
Sanaz Ghajarrahimi
Noelle Ghoussaini
Miranda Haymon
Michel Hausmann
Kimille Howard
Phillip Howze
Hansol Jung
Seonjae Kim
Patricia Ione Lloyd
Kareem M. Lucas
Martyna Majok
Divya Mangwani
Adil Mansoor
Alexandru Mihail
Beto O’Byrne
Brian Otaño
Tatiana Pandiani
Ming Peiffer
Francis Weiss Rabkin
Danny Sharron
Ruth Tang
Danya Taymor
Tyler Thomas
Stevie Walker-Webb
Gabriel Vega Weissman
Whitney White
Nia Ostrow Witherspoon
David Zheng
Mo Zhou
Jade King Carroll
Jackie Sibblies Drury
Kareem Fahmy
Simón Adinia Hanukai
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
Julián J. Mesri
Janine Nabers
Matthew Paul Olmos
Tamilla Woodard
Pirronne Yousefzadeh
Zhu Yi
Catherine Yu
May Adrales
Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya
Chris Alonzo
Saheem Ali
Eduardo Andino
Thomas Bradshaw
Gilela Cardenas
Robert Castro
Kipp Erante Cheng
Julia Cho
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
Jihan Crowther
Lydia Fort
Rafael Gallegos
Henry Guzman
Reshmi Hazra
Monica Henderson
Suzanne Hui Sun Kim
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Patty Jang
Sonoko Kawahara
Ismail Khalidi
Bushra Laskar
Edward Bok Lee
Destiny Lily
Czerton Lim
Ignacio Lopez
Matthew Lopez
Aya Ogawa
Frederica Nascimento
Christopher Oscar Peña
Clint Ramos
Harrison David Rivers
S. Vasanti Saxena
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh
Deena Selenow
Suzi Takahashi
t. tara turk
Michael Winn
Pirronne Yousefzadeh
David Sakverilidze (Georgia)
Milan Govedarica (Serbia-Montenegro)
Olga Perevezentseva (Russia)
Bojan Djordjev (Serbia)
Ahmed El-Attar (Egypt)
Ahmed Eldeeb (Egypt)
Yayoi Shimizu (Japan)
Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas (Artistic)
Rafael Gallegos (Artistic)
Adam Moore (Management)
Gita Reddy (Casting/Company Management)
Geoffrey Scott (Literary)
Niki Spruill (Production)
Liesl Tommy (Casting)
Lenora Pace (Directing)
Rubén Polendo (Directing)
Tracey Scott Wilson (Playwriting)
Alex Lewin
Kristin McDonald
William Bryant Miles
Keith Josef Adkins
Tanya Barfield
Kipp Erante Cheng
Angela Counts
Cynthia Fujikawa
Fanni Green
Hilly Hicks
Jake-ann Jones
Chiori Miyagawa
Derek Nguyen
Carmen Rivera
Sung Rno
Said Sayrafiezadeh
Deborah Swisher
Dominic Taylor
Tracey S. Wilson