The Alcove
New Play Development Program
Streaming October 16-30
Out The Mud
Juneteenth 1865, a newly freed couple stands at a crossroads: leave the only land they’ve ever known to forge an uncertain future, or remain on the plantation to work for the very family that once claimed ownership over their lives. Inspired by the Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, Out the Mud weaves humor and heart into a powerful story about love, legacy, and the pull of freedom.
ALL NEW Conversations from the Alcove:
Iraisa Ann Reilly
About the Program
The Alcove at the Lortel is a national and international multi-faceted approach to developing plays by early and mid-career playwrights and translators led and curated by Caridad Svich. The play development process starts with the awarding of commissions for full-length work. Additional elements include R & D work sessions in conjunction with dramaturgs, directors and/or designers, and rotating roster of artists-in-residence. Two digital components of the program are a digital reading series and a webcast series entitled “Conversations from the Alcove” where Svich chats with Lortel-commissioned artists about arts and ideas in theatre and performance.
Playwrights and Theatre-makers are currently selected for Alcove commissions both by invitation and through agent submission and referrals on a rolling basis between September and February. An open submission window will be announced in future, likely fall 2025.
We currently accept full scripts and queries from literary agents. Full unsolicited scripts are not accepted at this time. However, we will look at one page queries from writers interested in introducing their work to the Alcove. Open submissions may occur during limited timeframe to be announced at a later date.
Future components of the program will include a scratch night series, a works-in-progress festival and more. The Alcove is a place to seed dreams and innovative writing for performance reflective of the breadth and depth of artistry and perspectives in the national and global theatre realm.
Caridad Svich (Artistic Director of New Musical Development) is a playwright, translator, screenwriter, and lyricist whose recognitions include a 2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement and a 2018 Ellen Stewart Career Achievement Award from ATHE. Her signature plays include 12 Ophelias, Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart, Red Bike (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), Guapa (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), Spark (National Latino Playwriting Award), and The House of the Spirits (ATCA Primus Prize). Currently running at Repertorio Espanol in NYC are her plays Eva Luna (world premiere: 2022) and In the Time of the Butterflies. Among her projects in development is a new musical about Pablo Picasso with director Gordon Greenberg, composer Stephen Schwartz and actor Antonio Banderas for Trafalgar Entertainment.