The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (Betsy King Militello, Executive Director) has announced the NAMT Member Theatre and Writer Recipients for the 2024/2025 Writers Residency Grants, part of the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals. This is a major funding program to support the development and production of new musicals. Writers Residency Grants encourage collaborations between NAMT Member theatres and writers at the earliest stages of a project.
“Developing new musicals requires space, time and trust—three things our members provide with immense dedication,” says Betsy King Militello. “These Writers Residency Grants strengthen the foundation for musical theatre’s future by ensuring that writers and theatres can explore, experiment and build relationships. We are proud to continue investing in our members’ commitment to foster new work, and we can’t wait to see the incredible projects that will emerge from this year’s residencies.”
The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has awarded each of the following member organizations $500 to $2,000 for Writers Residency Grants for the 2024/2025 Cycles:
* American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) for Desaparecidas by Jaime Lozano, Florencia Cuenca & Georgina Escobar
* Ars Nova (New York, NY) for Where We Meet by Kate Eberstadt
* Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam, CT) for Legendary by Cheeyang Ng
* Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ) for King of Harlem by David Gomez & John-Michael Lyles
* New York Theatre Barn (New York, NY) for The Phoenix by Cheeyang Ng, Eric Sorrels & Desdemona Chiang
* Olney Theatre Center (Olney, MD) for Okuni by Naomi Iizuka & Paul Hodge
* Prospect Musicals (New York, NY) for YUKON HO by Adrian Blake Enscoe, Sydney Shepard & Regina Strayhorn
* Theater Latté Da (Minneapolis, MN) for Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria by Brandy Hoang Collier, Clare Fuyuko Bierman & Erika Ji
* Theatre Now New York (New York, NY) for Kusama by Yuriko Shibata & Andrew Strano
The next application cycle for the Writers Residency Grants will open May 1, 2025, for projects slated to take place between July 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. For more information, visit namt.org/wrg. Applicants must be U.S.-based NAMT member not-for-profit theatre organizations. For more information on membership, visit namt.org/membership.
The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals is overseen by NAMT New Works Director Frankie Dailey, and the recommended Grant Recipients for the Writers Residency Grants are selected by the New Works Committee, a distinguished panel of industry leaders from across the country. The 2024/2025 New Works Committee was co-chaired by Eric Keen-Louie of La Jolla Playhouse (CA), Hattie Andres, formerly of Seattle Rep (WA), Justin Lucero of Theater Latté Da (MN) and Ray Hogg of Prime Mover Theater Company (TO). Committee members include Joe Barros of New York Theatre Barn (NY); Jaime Bartolett of Shea Theatricals (NY); Bill Berry of The 5th Avenue Theatre (WA); Cat Brindisi of Asolo Rep (FL); Victoria Bussert of Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music (OH); Kate Galvin of Constellation Stage & Screen (IN); Marguerite Hannah of Horizon Theatre (GA); Elizabeth Kensek, formerly of WaterTower Theatre (TX); Tom Morrissey of Theatre Now New York (NY); Alan Paul of Barrington Stage Company (MA); Laura Peete of Theatre Under The Stars (TX); Damaso Rodriguez of Seattle Rep (WA); Amber Wallace of Ogunquit Playhouse (ME); and Adam Yankowy of Michigan State University (MI).
The Frank Young Fund for New Musicals has provided over $900,000 of funding to new musicals over the last 15 years, including King of Panagea (NAMT Fest ’22) by Martin Storrow at both Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Aurora Theatre; Redwood by Tina Landau, Kate Diaz and Idina Menzel at La Jolla Playhouse; A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson (NAMT Fest ’19) at Playwrights Horizons; Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian (NAMT Fest ’22) at Ars Nova; String (NAMT Fest ’14) by Adam Gwon (NAMT Fests ’08, ’11 & ’14) and Sarah Hammond (NAMT Fest ’14) at Millikin University; Eight-Sixed by Sam Salmond and Jeremy J. King at Diversionary Theatre; Soft Power by David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori at both Center Theatre Group and The Public Theater; Renascence by Dick Scanlan (NAMT Fest ’96) and Carmel Dean at Transport Theatre Group; The Band’s Visit by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses (NAMT Fest ’12) at Atlantic Theater Company; When We’re Gone (fka Mortality Play, NAMT Fest ’16) by Alana Jacoby and Scotty Arnold at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma; Bella: An American Tall Tale by Kirsten Childs (NAMT Fests ’98 & ’12) at Playwrights Horizons and Dallas Theater Center; Ordinary Days (NAMT Fest ’08) by Adam Gwon (NAMT Fests ’08, ’11 & ’14) at Adirondack Theatre Festival; Circus in Winter (NAMT Fest ’12) by Ben Clark, Hunter Foster and Beth Turcotte at Goodspeed Musicals; and Southern Comfort (NAMT Fest ’12) by Julianne Wick Davis (NAMT Fests ’12 & ’19) and Dan Collins (NAMT Fest ’12) at all three grant levels, at Playwrights Horizons, CAP21 and Barrington Stage Company; among many others.
The National Alliance for Musical Theatre, founded in 1985, is a not-for-profit organization serving the musical theatre community. Its mission is to be a catalyst for nurturing musical theatre development, production, innovation and collaboration. Their 140 organizational members and 60 individual members, located throughout 31 states and six countries abroad, are some of the leading producers of musical theatre in the world and include theatres, presenting organizations, higher education programs and individual producers. In 2024, NAMT reached $1 million in awards to member organizations through NAMT granting programs including the Frank Young Fund for New Musicals and the Impact & Exploration Fund. Among the 300 musicals launched by NAMT’s Annual Festival of New Musicals are Come From Away, Lempicka, The Drowsy Chaperone, Lizard Boy, Teeth, Gun & Powder, King of Pangea, Benny & Joon, Darling Grenadine, Ordinary Days, It Shoulda Been You and Thoroughly Modern Millie, among many others, representing 575 writers. Last year, nearly 150 students from 33 states participated in the Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge for High School Students, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with NAMT.
NAMT thanks the following foundations, government agencies and organizations for their ongoing support of our programs: The Alhadeff Family Charitable Fund, ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Fund, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation, BMI Foundation, Wendy Gillespie (Capdevilla Gillespie Foundation), The Giving Bee Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Hollywood Pantages, Lucille Lortel Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Rodgers & Hammerstein Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Ted Snowdon Foundation, and Anonymous donors.
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