Announcing The Civilians’ 2020-21 R&D Group, Finalists, Semi-Finalists

Celebrating its tenth year, The Civilians' R&D Group provides artists a season-long developmental residency.

We are thrilled to present the newest members of The R&D Group, marking the Group’s 10th season, and The Civilians’ 20th Anniversary Season.

The artists were selected from a competitive application process. This year, The Civilians’ open call received a record number of 228 applications, a 60% increase from last year. Several R&D Group alumni, as well as past and present staff members and interns, were asked to join the thorough selection process.

The members of The Civilians’ 2020-21 R&D Group are Galia Backal, Nana Dakin, Isabella Dawis, Jacinth GreywoodeJaime Lozano, Emily Lyon, AriDy NoxReynaldo Piniella, Tylie ShiderTidtaya Sinutoke, Rachel M. Stevens, Ken Urban, and Noelle Viñas.

Ikumi Kuronaga supports SUNWATCHER as Producer/Cultural Consultant and will participate in the Findings Series. Florencia Cuenca will co-write lyrics for DESAPARECIDAS (WORKING TITLE). Ken Urban joins us as part of The Civilians’ new work development program; his play, THE MODERATE, is commissioned by the EST/Sloan Project, developed by The Civilians, and will receive its first reading at EST.

This season’s R&D Group artists inspire with their visionary and deeply personal approaches to questions that demand illumination. The Civilians look forward to cultivating a space for deep inquiry and exploration for this cohort to develop their powerful ideas into new works. You can find out more about these artists and the projects they’ll be developing this season on The Civilians R&D Group page.


FINALISTS & SEMIFINALISTS

In honor of the overwhelming amount of talent and curiosity displayed amongst this year’s applicants, and to commemorate the R&D Group’s decade of developing new investigative theater projects, The Civilians are pleased to share the exceptional finalist and semifinalist artists considered for this season’s R&D Group.

We encourage you to get to know their work, and hope you’ll find out more about the questions each of these artists is asking.

Finalist Projects were proposed by Calley N. AndersonMasi AsareHelen BannerAaron ColemanSara Cooper & Kira StoneAnnalisa DiasDominic Finocchiaro & Stephen Bennett; Franky D. GonzalezSuzy Jane HuntRachel Gita KarpBen Hoover & Jacob Russell; Divya Mangwani & Kate Moore Heaney; Talene Monahon & Adam Chanler-Berat; Brett RobinsonDominique Rider & Nissy Aya; Marcus Antwan ScottRyan Kerr, & Dev Bondarin; David B. Thomas, Nick Hatcher, & Sheridan MerrickXandra Nur Clark; and Sim Yan Ying “YY” & Alvin Tan

Semifinalist Projects were proposed by Luisa Alarcon, Jonathan AlexandratosAmanda AndreiAya Aziz & Arpita MukherjeeKate Bergstrom & Denmo IbrahimAmy Berryman & Mia WalkerBen Bonnema, Stephen Brown & Talaura Harms, Lilly Camp, Xavier Clark, Gardiner ComfortMilo Cramer & Morgan Green, Miranda CornellSarah DahnkeScott Davis & Gina StevensenNelson Diaz-MarcanoAdam ElsayighKareem FahmyGina FemiaPhilip Wesley GatesCharles GershmanMichael Gubser, Sarah Hartmann & Helena Rita CespedesJulian HornikLisa HubermanKate Hunter & Ryan ConarroJerrod JordahlTavi Rebecca JuárezJessica Kahkoska & Elliah HeifetzSharon Kenny & Kristen Guenther, Audrey LangJanelle LawrenceDurra Leung & Maggie Sharp TallanTeresa Lotz & Daniella CaggianoYeujia LowAshley MarinaccioFrancisco Mendoza & Stefania BulbarellaJulian J MesriCharlie Oh, Dan Rubins, Travis RussSophie Sagan-Gutherz, Allison Snyder & Michael HerwitzJonathan Spector, Marianna Staroselsky, Nathalie Stechysin & Allison CE Mitchell, Will Steinberger & Zizi Majid, Travis Tate & Graham Thomas SchmidtAshley TeagueKate Thomas & Joey ContrerasLeigh VaynbergRob Weinert-Kendt & David CoteMallory Jane Weiss, Alison Weller & Peter HodgsonLillian WhiteLauren WimmerKatherine Ella Wood, and Marcus Yi

Finalist Directors are é. boylanBritt BerkeMatt DicksonJoan SergayNoam ShapiroEmerie SnyderLeia SquillanceAlex Tobey, and Michael T. Williams

Semifinalist Directors are Ryan DobrinCarsen JoenkNicholas Polonio, and Lana Russell


To learn more about The Civilians and to access exclusive discounts to shows, visit our website TheCivilians.org.


Author

  • Ilana Becker

    Ilana Becker is a producer and director specializing in new play and musical development, investigative and verbatim material, community-driven projects, and arts education. In addition to currently serving as The Civilians’ R&D Group Program Director, she has been a member of the staffs of All For One Theater, Lincoln Center Education, and Bret Adams Ltd, and spent a year as the Associate Artistic Director and Interim Artistic Director of Company of Fools/Sun Valley Center for the Arts. Line Producing includes work with CollaborationTown, All For One, and Jewish Plays Project. Ilana is the creator of Argument Sessions, a series of ongoing immersive theatrical events weaving verbatim SCOTUS transcripts with collaboratively developed original material. She is a member of the WP Theater 2018-2020 Producers Lab, and an alum of the Civilians’ R&D Group, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, DirectorsLabChicago, Fresh Ground Pepper PlayGroup, as well as a Playwrights Horizons Robert Moss Directing Fellow and an Emerging Leader of NY Arts Fellow. Much gratitude to Megan and EllaRose for laying the R&D Group groundwork. www.ilanabecker.com

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