McCarter gets $90,000 grant from National Endowment for the Arts

   McCarter Theatre will receive one of two $90,000 grants from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of its New Play Development Program, it was announced Monday.
   McCarter will produce Tarell Alvin McCraney’s trilogy “The Brother/Sister Plays” as part of its 2008-09 season, including the world premiere of “Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet.”
   While McCarter has previously worked with Mr. McCraney on the trilogy’s first two plays, this is the first time that all three plays will be presented together on consecutive evenings.
   The McCarter project as well as a play produced by the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles were selected as NEA Outstanding New American Plays. Center Theatre Group will produce “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” by Rajiv Joseph as part of its 2009 season.
   Each participating theater will collaborate closely with the playwright on development activities, such as workshops and staged readings. Administered by Arena Stage, the new initiative is intended to help the nation’s nonprofit theaters bring more new plays to full production.
   ”Every year the NEA supports about 135 new theatrical premieres, but the NEA New Play Development Program, in partnership with Arena Stage, is something special. It creates a small but superb national network to develop new works from across the country,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia in a statement.
   ”Arena Stage fiercely believes American playwrights are the lifeblood of our American theater. Therefore, a big part of Arena’s mission is focused on finding ways to further the development of these voices,” stated Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith. “Our initial excitement at being selected to host the NEA New Play Development Program grew exponentially throughout this process: first with the quality of the applications, then with the quality of the discussions at panel and finally into the selections themselves. It has been a privilege to partner in a vibrant way with the NEA on this important project, and we now look forward to witnessing the evolution of each of these remarkable plays.”
   ”The Brother/Sister Plays” by Mr. McCraney are set in fictionalized San Pere, La., and draw from images of life in the American urban south and Yoruban cosmology.
   Mr. McCraney, originally from Miami, earned his master of fine arts degree from the Yale School of Drama’s playwriting program.