TheatreSquared announced Wednesday that it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $50,000.
The grant will support the Arkansas New Play Festival, which was launched in 2009 and has aided the development of more than 60 plays.
The playwright-focused festival links authors with a director, literary expert and professional cast for a two-to-three-week laboratory process, ending in staged reading performances. The festival has received support from the NEA since 2013.
“We are deeply honored to receive this NEA grant, which recognizes the vital role our New Play Festival has played in shaping the future of American theater for 16 years,” TheatreSquared executive director Shannon A. Jones said in a press release. “This support allows us to continue championing bold, original voices and providing a platform for stories that challenge, inspire and reflect the diversity of our nation.”
TheatreSquared is the state’s largest theater, offering more than 350 performances annually. The playwright-led company is one of mid-America’s leading laboratories for new work, having launched more than 70 new plays. As part of the Grants for Arts Projects, the NEA will give 1,127 awards nationwide, totaling more than $31.8 million in fiscal year 2025.
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