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 Greywoode, Jaime Lozano, Emily Lyon, AriDy Nox, Reynaldo Piniella, Tylie Shider, Tidtaya 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. Anderson; Masi Asare; Helen Banner; Aaron Coleman; Sara Cooper & Kira Stone; Annalisa Dias; Dominic Finocchiaro & Stephen Bennett; Franky D. Gonzalez; Suzy Jane Hunt; Rachel Gita Karp, Ben Hoover & Jacob Russell; Divya Mangwani & Kate Moore Heaney; Talene Monahon & Adam Chanler-Berat; Brett Robinson; Dominique Rider & Nissy Aya; Marcus Antwan Scott, Ryan Kerr, & Dev Bondarin; David B. Thomas, Nick Hatcher, & Sheridan Merrick; Xandra Nur Clark; and Sim Yan Ying “YY” & Alvin Tan. 

Semifinalist Projects were proposed by Luisa Alarcon, Jonathan Alexandratos, Amanda Andrei, Aya Aziz & Arpita Mukherjee, Kate Bergstrom & Denmo Ibrahim, Amy Berryman & Mia Walker, Ben Bonnema, Stephen Brown & Talaura Harms, Lilly Camp, Xavier Clark, Gardiner Comfort, Milo Cramer & Morgan Green, Miranda Cornell, Sarah Dahnke, Scott Davis & Gina Stevensen, Nelson Diaz-Marcano, Adam Elsayigh, Kareem Fahmy, Gina Femia, Philip Wesley Gates, Charles Gershman, Michael Gubser, Sarah Hartmann & Helena Rita Cespedes, Julian Hornik, Lisa Huberman, Kate Hunter & Ryan Conarro, Jerrod Jordahl, Tavi Rebecca Juárez, Jessica Kahkoska & Elliah Heifetz, Sharon Kenny & Kristen Guenther, Audrey Lang, Janelle Lawrence, Durra Leung & Maggie Sharp Tallan, Teresa Lotz & Daniella Caggiano, Yeujia Low, Ashley Marinaccio, Francisco Mendoza & Stefania Bulbarella, Julian J Mesri, Charlie Oh, Dan Rubins, Travis Russ, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, Allison Snyder & Michael Herwitz, Jonathan Spector, Marianna Staroselsky, Nathalie Stechysin & Allison CE Mitchell, Will Steinberger & Zizi Majid, Travis Tate & Graham Thomas Schmidt, Ashley Teague, Kate Thomas & Joey Contreras, Leigh Vaynberg, Rob Weinert-Kendt & David Cote, Mallory Jane Weiss, Alison Weller & Peter Hodgson, Lillian White, Lauren Wimmer, Katherine Ella Wood, and Marcus Yi. 

Finalist Directors are é. boylan, Britt Berke, Matt Dickson, Joan Sergay, Noam Shapiro, Emerie Snyder, Leia Squillance, Alex Tobey, and Michael T. Williams. 

Semifinalist Directors are Ryan Dobrin, Carsen Joenk, Nicholas Polonio, and Lana Russell. 

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