"No one wants to talk about weakness, that's cool, neither do I. I want to talk about strength and how we, the disabled...can be leaders and guides." -Tim J. Lord
Tim J. Lord
NEW YORK, NY – The Apothetae, a theater company committed to challenging common perceptions of the “Disabled Experience,” and The Lark, a play development lab devoted to equity, community, and the power of an individual artistic voice, are thrilled to announce the inaugural recipient of The Apothetae at Lark Fellowship for a Disabled writer is Tim J. Lord. The Fellowship, made possible with leadership support from the Time Warner Foundation, and additional support from Jody Falco and Jeffrey Steinman, includes a two-year residency for a Disabled Writer, a cash award of $40,000, plus a $5,000 Opportunity Fund for project-related expenses, and control over a $10,000 Production Enhancement Fund, to be allocated to a producing theater in support of a full production of one of the Fellow’s plays. The Fellowship also includes access to a wide range of Lark and Apothetae resources, including artistic program participation, office and rehearsal space, and staff support.
Tim, a St. Louis native, is a playwright who has spent the past ten years is New York, and is now based in Minneapolis, whose plays tend to explore the relationships between communities and the physical landscapes they inhabit via our shared mythologies. They follow characters who attempt to navigate the fates that have been written for them, and grapple with circumstances beyond their own control.
"I have spent a lifetime not taking anything for granted, so when things go off the rails I am prepared to find alternate ways. It’s why when I write plays my characters tend to be outsiders struggling to find their way through a “normal” world," said Tim. "No one wants to talk about weakness, that's cool, neither do I. I want to talk about strength and how we, the disabled...can be leaders and guides."
In addition to the selection of the Fellow, three finalists for the award were chosen to receive a $5,000 honorarium. They are Oya Mae Duchess-Davis, Jerron Herman, and Magda Romanska.
The Apothetae at Lark Playwriting Fellowship is the centerpiece of a broad Apothetae and Lark Initiative, designed to provide an unprecedented platform of financial and artistic support and advocacy for Disabled Artists, and to promote the generation of new plays with the power to revolutionize the cultural conversation surrounding Disability. The Fellowship and Initiative were born directly out of conversations with members of the Disabled and d/Deaf Communities, held at The Lark in May of 2015 and January of 2016. At both convenings, three major needs were expressed: more material, more opportunities opportunities (which are perpetuated by the creation of more material), and more convening as a community. The Apothetae and The Lark have been working in partnership, along with Steering Committee members Claudia Alick (Community Producer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Shirley Fishman (Resident Dramaturg at La Jolla Playhouse), Jack Reuler (Artistic Director at Mixed Blood Theatre), and Howard Sherman (Senior Strategy Director and Interim Director at Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts) to address these needs, as well as the profound underrepresentation and oppressive misrepresentation of people with disabilities that persists throughout our cultural media.
“I believe theater offers one of the greatest venues for perceptions about Disability to change; it is immediate, events happen in real time, and it demands participation,” said Gregg Mozgala, Founder and Artistic Director of The Apothetae. “It also provides visibility, creates community, and serves as a place of inclusion and a forum for ideas. The Disabled Community, and the experiences of that community, are incredibly varied and complex. There are commonalities to be sure, but I believe what makes Disability hard to define and codify is the same thing that makes it inherently dramatic in nature. And worthy of rigorous exploration.”
The Apothetae and Lark Playwriting Fellowship is a critical component in The Lark’s acclaimed portfolio of fellowships, designed to engage a diverse community of extraordinary playwrights at various places in their careers, who represent, collectively, a contemporary national vision. The Lark believes that targeted support is essential to a culture of equity, access, and inclusion, and a national theater that represents the vibrancy of our collective cultural voices.
“The creation of new works and the re-appropriation of existing works can help frame our experience in a historical context while simultaneously creating new mythologies,” says Mozgala. “It finally allows us to take ownership of our personal and collective identity.”
ABOUT THE FELLOW
Tim J. Lord is a 2017-18 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. A native of St. Louis, his plays include We declare you a terrorist…, 11 Hills of San Francisco, Peloponnesus, Down in the face of God, Better Homes & Homelands, Over Before We Get There, and Fault & Fold. These and others have been seen at the Public Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Working Theater, the New Harmony Project, the Summer Play Festival, NNPN/Kennedy Center University Playwrights Workshop, Circle Rep, the Cutout Theatre, the Vagrancy, HotCity Greenhouse Festival, and the Barn Arts Collective. He has been a volunteer at the 52nd Street Project since 2012. Tim studied with Paula Vogel while living in Providence, RI, and is a graduate of UC San Diego's MFA playwriting program.
ABOUT THE FINALISTS
Tim, a St. Louis native, is a playwright who has spent the past ten years is New York, and is now based in Minneapolis, whose plays tend to explore the relationships between communities and the physical landscapes they inhabit via our shared mythologies. They follow characters who attempt to navigate the fates that have been written for them, and grapple with circumstances beyond their own control.
"I have spent a lifetime not taking anything for granted, so when things go off the rails I am prepared to find alternate ways. It’s why when I write plays my characters tend to be outsiders struggling to find their way through a “normal” world," said Tim. "No one wants to talk about weakness, that's cool, neither do I. I want to talk about strength and how we, the disabled...can be leaders and guides."
In addition to the selection of the Fellow, three finalists for the award were chosen to receive a $5,000 honorarium. They are Oya Mae Duchess-Davis, Jerron Herman, and Magda Romanska.
The Apothetae at Lark Playwriting Fellowship is the centerpiece of a broad Apothetae and Lark Initiative, designed to provide an unprecedented platform of financial and artistic support and advocacy for Disabled Artists, and to promote the generation of new plays with the power to revolutionize the cultural conversation surrounding Disability. The Fellowship and Initiative were born directly out of conversations with members of the Disabled and d/Deaf Communities, held at The Lark in May of 2015 and January of 2016. At both convenings, three major needs were expressed: more material, more opportunities opportunities (which are perpetuated by the creation of more material), and more convening as a community. The Apothetae and The Lark have been working in partnership, along with Steering Committee members Claudia Alick (Community Producer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Shirley Fishman (Resident Dramaturg at La Jolla Playhouse), Jack Reuler (Artistic Director at Mixed Blood Theatre), and Howard Sherman (Senior Strategy Director and Interim Director at Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts) to address these needs, as well as the profound underrepresentation and oppressive misrepresentation of people with disabilities that persists throughout our cultural media.
“I believe theater offers one of the greatest venues for perceptions about Disability to change; it is immediate, events happen in real time, and it demands participation,” said Gregg Mozgala, Founder and Artistic Director of The Apothetae. “It also provides visibility, creates community, and serves as a place of inclusion and a forum for ideas. The Disabled Community, and the experiences of that community, are incredibly varied and complex. There are commonalities to be sure, but I believe what makes Disability hard to define and codify is the same thing that makes it inherently dramatic in nature. And worthy of rigorous exploration.”
The Apothetae and Lark Playwriting Fellowship is a critical component in The Lark’s acclaimed portfolio of fellowships, designed to engage a diverse community of extraordinary playwrights at various places in their careers, who represent, collectively, a contemporary national vision. The Lark believes that targeted support is essential to a culture of equity, access, and inclusion, and a national theater that represents the vibrancy of our collective cultural voices.
“The creation of new works and the re-appropriation of existing works can help frame our experience in a historical context while simultaneously creating new mythologies,” says Mozgala. “It finally allows us to take ownership of our personal and collective identity.”
ABOUT THE FELLOW
Tim J. Lord is a 2017-18 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. A native of St. Louis, his plays include We declare you a terrorist…, 11 Hills of San Francisco, Peloponnesus, Down in the face of God, Better Homes & Homelands, Over Before We Get There, and Fault & Fold. These and others have been seen at the Public Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Working Theater, the New Harmony Project, the Summer Play Festival, NNPN/Kennedy Center University Playwrights Workshop, Circle Rep, the Cutout Theatre, the Vagrancy, HotCity Greenhouse Festival, and the Barn Arts Collective. He has been a volunteer at the 52nd Street Project since 2012. Tim studied with Paula Vogel while living in Providence, RI, and is a graduate of UC San Diego's MFA playwriting program.
ABOUT THE FINALISTS
Oya Mae Duchess-Davis is an upcoming playwright from Minneapolis, MN. The rhythms and cultures of North Minneapolis, the black diaspora, and Afro-Cuban spiritual traditions are infused in the world of her plays. Her work focuses on blackness, beauty, and the context of America. Her plays aim to redefine blackness in terms of love, family, community, and the magic that comes along with not knowing where one truly comes from. Oya was the 2016 Many Voices mentee and has been a part of festivals both in New York and Minneapolis. She was recently commissioned to write a horror play about white privilege which is a topic that appears in the worlds of her plays. As a playwright with a disability she is happy to be a finalist for the Apothetae and Lark Fellowship.
Jerron Herman is a professional writer and dancer, primarily a principal company member of Heidi Latsky Dance (HLD), NYC's premiere physically integrated dance company. He was diagnosed with Hemiplegia Cerebral Palsy at three months old. Jerron began his studies in the Department of Dramatic Writing at Tisch School of the Arts and holds a B.A with concentrations in Playwriting and Art Criticism from The King's College in NYC where he wrote several small musicals and a one-man show. Jerron’s critical writings on the arts can be found on Theasy. He’s also contributed to Backstage Magazine. Personal specials include, "ON THE SCENE with John Bathke", "Open Studio with Jared Bowen" on PBS, and most recently Great Big Story. Jerron has been a panelist for La Mama ETC alongside Gregg Mozgala, and Lincoln Center (Film Society, Education, Performing Arts Library). The New York Times has called him, "the inexhaustible Mr. Herman..."
Magda Romanska is a theater and performance scholar, writer, and dramaturg, with 15 years of teaching, production, and publishing experience in the dramatic arts. She is an author of five books and dozens of articles and essays on theater and performance. She worked on over 30 theater and opera productions as dramaturg and director. Her play, Opheliamachine, premiered in Los Angeles to critical acclaim. She is now developing an opera, The Life and Times of Stephen Hawking. Magda taught at Harvard and Cornell, and last year, she was a visiting faculty at Yale School of Drama. Currently, she is Associate Professor of Theatre Studies and Dramaturgy at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of TheTheatreTimes.com, for which she coordinates the work of 120 Regional Managing Editors, covering theater in 70 countries. Magda received her B.A. from Stanford University and her Ph.D. from Cornell University’s Department of Theatre.
ABOUT THE APOTHETAE
The Apothetae is a company dedicated to the production of full-length plays that explore and illuminate the "Disabled Experience." To do this, The Apothetae focuses on newly commissioned works by both established and up and coming playwrights, and plays that already exist in the theatrical canon featuring characters with disabilities or dealing with disabled themes: Oedipus, Richard III, The Elephant Man, etc. By making visible the human impact of disabled people throughout history, The Apothetae believes empathy can be practiced, perceptions changed, and new communities forged through the collaborative and transformative power of the artistic process.
For more information about The Apothetae, please visit: www.theapothetae.org.
The Apothetae is a company dedicated to the production of full-length plays that explore and illuminate the "Disabled Experience." To do this, The Apothetae focuses on newly commissioned works by both established and up and coming playwrights, and plays that already exist in the theatrical canon featuring characters with disabilities or dealing with disabled themes: Oedipus, Richard III, The Elephant Man, etc. By making visible the human impact of disabled people throughout history, The Apothetae believes empathy can be practiced, perceptions changed, and new communities forged through the collaborative and transformative power of the artistic process.
For more information about The Apothetae, please visit: www.theapothetae.org.
ABOUT THE LARK
The Lark is an international theater laboratory, based in New York City, dedicated to empowering playwrights by providing transformative support within a global community. Founded in 1994, The Lark provides writers with funding, space, collaborators, audiences, professional connections, and the freedom to design their own processes of exploration. The guiding principal of The Lark’s work is the belief that playwrights are society’s truth tellers, and their work strengthens our collective capacity to understand our world and imagine its future.
For more information about the artists, initiatives and plays of The Lark, please visit: www.larktheatre.org.
ABOUT THE TIME WARNER FOUNDATION
The Lark is an international theater laboratory, based in New York City, dedicated to empowering playwrights by providing transformative support within a global community. Founded in 1994, The Lark provides writers with funding, space, collaborators, audiences, professional connections, and the freedom to design their own processes of exploration. The guiding principal of The Lark’s work is the belief that playwrights are society’s truth tellers, and their work strengthens our collective capacity to understand our world and imagine its future.
For more information about the artists, initiatives and plays of The Lark, please visit: www.larktheatre.org.
ABOUT THE TIME WARNER FOUNDATION
The Time Warner Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation that is wholly supported by Time Warner Inc. and its subsidiary companies Home Box Office, Inc., Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Its mission is to seek innovative and powerful ways to discover, nurture and celebrate the next generation of storytellers. The Foundation strives to build impactful partnerships with best-in-class nonprofit organizations that push the boundaries of artist development and support underrepresented storytellers. The Foundation's ultimate goal is the cultivation of an artistic community that is rich, vibrant and relevant to audiences of today and tomorrow. For more information, please visit: www.timewarnerfoundation.org.
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