Ancram Center’s Summer Play Lab Artist Residency
CALLING ALL ARTISTS: 2024 Summer Play Lab Applications are Open!
Application deadline: Friday, March 22nd, 2024
Ancram Center for the Arts seeks proposals from Hudson Valley, Capital District, Berkshires, and northwest Connecticut-based theater artists of all practices (playwrights, designers, performers, composers, directors, dancers, dramaturgs, interdisciplinary artists, etc.) to develop and present new work as part of Ancram Center’s 2024 Summer Play Lab. This year’s residency will culminate with a work-in-progress showing that will be offered to the public on Sunday, June 16th. One artist or artistic team will be selected for this year’s opportunity.
Now in its fourth year, Ancram Center’s Summer Play Lab Residency supports theater artists in the creation of new work or the further development of an existing piece. A fully realized production may be staged in the future at Ancram Center, or elsewhere.
About the Play Lab
A PLAY LAB FOR THE PEOPLE
In 2020, Ancram Center developed the Summer Play Lab residency as a way to support artists of all practices in the creation of new work in uncertain times. The residency program offered creators a space to make theatre that felt rewarding and complete, in a time when live performance was not viable. Through open rehearsals, interactive workshops, and talkback events with the artists, the Summer Play Lab residency forged meaningful connections between resident artists and the community. In the transition back to live theatre, the Summer Play Lab residency remains an integral part of Ancram Center’s seasonal programming.
Central to Ancram Center’s mission is the act of telling stories—whether through spoken word, song or other means—as a way for our community to connect and learn. With the Summer Play Lab program, Ancram Center continues to support visionary artists in their creative journeys and invites the community to take part in the process.
PROGRAMMING DETAILS
The Summer Play Lab residency serves as an incubator of new and innovative performance. It is a process that culminates to work-in-progress showings offered to the public. Artists are provided with free rehearsal space, receive feedback from resident respondents, and participate in regular check-ins with Ancram Center directors in support of their work. Ancram Center seeks to further the artist’s process and efforts to bring their new, emerging piece closer towards a fully realized production in the future at Ancram Center or elsewhere.
The Summer Play Lab Residency at Ancram Center provides artists with 30 hours of rehearsal space, a $3,000 budget, extensive marketing support, one work-in-progress showing, and basic tech equipment usage. Technical assistance is available to ensure a smooth production experience.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Central to its mission, Ancram Center seeks to connect artists with the community at large. As part of Summer Play Lab, this engagement shall be facilitated through public convenings:
The artist will lead a two or three-hour interactive workshop that will be open to the public. In consultation with Ancram Center directors, the artist can design the workshop experience based on their expertise and practice. The workshop may also be conceived so it helps the resident artists work on their project. Enrollment will be limited and determined in conversation with each artist.
Optional talkbacks following each public showing.
KEY DATES
Applications due March 22nd
Decision and artist notification on or around April 1
The residency begins the week of June 10th
Public showing on June 16th
Residency concludes on June 17th