Continuing with its mission to achieve parity in theatre, independent LA-based collective The Kilroys has released its fourth annual list of industry-recommended new plays.
Dubbed “The List,” it is made up of 37 production-ready works by female or trans playwrights. In response to recent statistics from The Count—an ongoing study funded by The Lilly Awards and The Dramatists Guild—that showed that only 3.4 percent of plays produced in regional theatres in the U.S. were written by women of color, this year’s list features plays by women and trans women of color exclusively.
The List is decided upon by The Kilroys following a survey of hundreds of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, producers, directors, and dramaturgs—who each recommend the best plays they have come across in the last 12 months. Since its founding in 2014, more than 100 productions of plays on The List have been have been mounted or announced.
Lauren Yee, whose play The Great Leap is being developed at Vassar and New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Season, is featured on The List twice, with The Great Leap and Cambodian Rock. The 2017 collection also features new plays by Kentucky playwright Leah Nanako Winkler, Brownsville Song playwright Kimber Lee, as well Lee Chisa Hutchinson’s Somebody's Daughter, which is currently playing Off-Broadway in a production from Second Stage.
The List serves as a resource for American theatre makers. In a survey of previous List playwrights, 95 percent of respondents reported an increase of requests for their plays, and 80 percent reported subsequent productions at notable theatres across the country.
The complete Kilroys List for 2017 is below. Click here for show descriptions:
Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee
The Great Leap by Lauren Yee
Yoga Play by Dipika Guha
Thirst by C.A. Johnson
Blks. by Aziza Barnes
If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka by Tori Sampson
Is God Is by Aleshea Harris
We, the Invisibles by Susan Soon He Stanton
Queen by Madhuri Shekar
The Opportunities of Extinction by Sam Chanse
Hang Man by Stacy Amma Osei-Kuffour
Last Night and the Night Before by Donnetta Lavinia Grays
El Huracán by Charise Castro Smith
Two Mile Hollow by Leah Nanako Winkler
Black Super Hero Magic Mama by Inda Craig-Galván
Endlings by Celine Song
Eve’s Song by Patricia Ione Lloyd
To the Yellow House by Kimber Lee
Florissant & Canfield by Kristiana Rae Colón
Les Freres by Sandra A. Daley-Sharif
Redwood by Brittany K. Allen
The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu
Burned by Amina Henry
Hatefuck by Rehana Lew Mirza
Magic City or Julie in Basel by Hilary Bettis
Nomad Motel by Carla Ching
Noura by Heather Raffo
Usual Girls by Ming Peiffer
Azul by Christina Quintana
Breach by Antoinette Nwandu
How to Catch Creation by Christina Anderson
Nike, or We Don’t Need Another Hero by Ngozi Anyanwu
Selling Kabul by Sylvia Khoury
Somebody’s Daughter by Chisa Hutchinson
The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin by Jessica Huang
The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse
Unreliable by Dipika Guha
The Kilroys is made up of playwrights and producers Zakiyyah Alexander, Bekah Brunstetter, Sheila Callaghan, Carla Ching, Annah Feinberg, Sarah Gubbins, Laura Jacqmin, Joy Meads, Kelly Miller, Meg Miroshnik, Daria Polatin, Tanya Saracho, and Marisa Wegrzyn.
Viist TheKilroys.org for more information.
