TheatreSquared gets grant from Department of Arkansas Heritage
Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/64107/
The Department of Arkansas Heritage awarded TheatreSquared $ 25, 000 to fund “ Discovery: Arkansas, ” a new play festival slated for March.
According to the theater group, the grant makes possible the creation of six new plays that “ substantially deal with some aspect of Arkansas history, culture or biography, ” three by established playwrights and three by young playwrights from Arkansas high schools. All six will be presented in a public staged reading with professional actors as part of a weekend-long festival.
Of the more than 200 applications received by the Department of Heritage, only 33 were funded.
“ We couldn’t be more pleased, ” Artistic Director and playwright Robert Ford said in a press release. “ As a result of this grant there will be six new works about Arkansas. Not the kind that will sit on a shelf somewhere gathering dust, but the kind that will get produced. That’s our intention. ”
Ford said Arkansas has been overlooked as a source for good stories.
“ This state is rich in theatricality, ” he said. “ From the high drama of De Soto and later the French explorers on up through the history of race relations here. And the crazy political shenanigans that have gone on. There’s no shortage of drama, not to mention comedy. ”
The Arkansas Heritage grant will support a two-week professional workshop for the three established playwrights, who will be supported by directors and a company of actors. The three student works will be drawn from submissions by participants in the Delta Oral History Project run by Professor David Jolliffe of the University of Arkansas.