Arena Stage has commissioned four additional playwrights for its Power Plays program, with Lauren Yee, Zack Zadek, Emily Feldman, and Karen Zacarías joining the mission.
Artistic Director Molly Smith said Zack Zadek and Emily Feldman are joining forces to write a musical about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the women in his life.
It’s unclear what Yee and Zacaría present at the D.C.-area venue, though Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band begins previews at the Signature Theatre Off-Broadway February 4, and Zacarías’ Destiny of Desire begins at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 30. The latter debuted at the Arena Stage in 2015.
The Power Plays mission aims to develop 25 new plays and musicals by a diverse mix of creatives about American life from 1776 to the present. There are five cycles: Presidential Voices, African-American Voices, Insider Voices, Musical Theater Voices, and Women’s Voices.
Previously commissioned playwrights include Nathan Alan Davis, Eve Ensler, Kenneth Lin, Craig Lucas, Theresa Rebeck, and Eduardo Machado, whose play Celia and Fidel begins February 28.
