New Visions Fellowship

EDUCATION PROGRAMS

In Spring of 2021, National Queer Theater and the Dramatists Guild launched the New Visions Fellowship, an innovative new program for Black trans and gender non-conforming playwrights. The New Visions Fellowship is a rigorous year-long professional development initiative aimed at celebrating the brilliance of and uplifting Black TGNC writers in the face of the systemic exclusion that Black TGNC writers have endured within American theater.

THE INAUGURAL FELLOWS

This fellowship was awarded to Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko (he/they) and Ayla Xuan Chi Sullivan (they/them). The program will be helmed by Black and Filipinx playwright Roger Q. Mason (they/them) along with Project Manager Jordan Stovall (they/them).

In February of 2022, National Queer Theater, in partnership with the Dramatists Guild, produced JUBILEE FOR A NEW VISION, a showcase for the New Visions Fellowship to share new works amplifying the TGNC experience in scene, song, and performance. JUBILEE FOR A NEW VISION was part of Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival.

SUPPORT THIS PROGRAM

The New Visions Fellowship is an investment in the future – not only the future of the American theater but also the future of the writers whose lives it will change irrevocably. Your donations will help to ensure opportunity and access for the next generation of playwrights for the American Theatre.

DONATE

“What excites me the most about this fellowship is that Black and Transgender creativity is at the forefront and heart of New Visions,” said playwright Ayla Xuan Chi Sullivan (They/Them). “I never want my Blackness and my Transness to be a fun fact about me: my identity is not a product to be bartered or questioned, it is integral to my creative life because my specific experience as a Black and Transgender person is inherently creative when I have to navigate how to ensure the expression and protection of my livelihood. To truly have that welcomed and celebrated in a professional landscape is a gift of resistance."

TICKET OPTIONS

GENERAL TICKETS - $30 There will be reserved seating for each party in order to ensure social distancing. The number of tickets purchased will be the number of seats reserved for your party. Therefore, please only purchase tickets for those in your household and/or please complete one ticket order for everyone that you plan on attending with. FESTIVAL PASSES - $50 This will allow you to see all three festival plays. To obtain, select the $50 "Festival Pass" option for the first performance you would like to see. Your confirmation email for that ticket will contain a promo code that you will enter on the ticket selection page of the other two performances you would like to see. This promo code will reveal a free "FESTIVAL PASS" free ticket option for those two performances, select that and check out as normal.
LOCATION

The festival will take place on the streets of New York City near the United Nations in Manhattan. The exact address will be shared with ticket holders to prevent crowding. Two festival performances will take place on Hearst Stage at Lincoln Center as part of their Restart Stages initiative, see below for more information on the Lincoln Center performances. Note that tickets for the Lincoln Center performances are only available via TodayTix Lottery.
CQF at LINCOLN CENTER

Two festival performances will occur on Hearst Stage at Lincoln Center, as part of their Restart Stages initiative. Tickets for these performances are free but are only obtainable via lottery through Lincoln Center and TodayTix. The Lincoln Center performance of «when we write with ashes» by Victor I. Cazares is on June 24th at 7pm. The TodayTix lottery for this performance opens on June 10th and closes on June 21st. The Lincoln Center performance of This is not a memorized script, this is a well-rehearsed story by Dima Mikhayel Matta is on June 25th at 7pm. The TodayTix lottery for this performance opens on June 11th and closes on June 22nd. Learn more and enter the lottery for our performances at Lincoln Center here.
RUNTIMES

The staged reading of Layalina will be approximately 90 minutes long. Performances of <will run approximately 60 minutes. Performances of This is Not a Memorized Script, This is a Well-Rehearsed Story will run approximately 60 minutes.
COVID-19 SAFETY

The 2021 Criminal Queerness Festival will be held outdoors and will be executed with COVID-19 safety precautions in line with recommendations from the CDC and New York State for the safety of audiences and artists alike. As of right now, audience members can expect to wear masks and maintain a physical distance of at least 6ft from people outside of their household. As the COVID-19 pandemic is a constantly changing situation, specific procedures will continue to be outlined as the event approaches.
ACCESSIBILITY

The outdoor venue near the United Nations is wheelchair accessible. For any questions or requests regarding accessibility at the United Nations performances, please contact NQT Managing Director Douglas Sebamala at douglas@nationalqueertheater.org. Hearst Stage at Lincoln Center is also wheelchair accessible. Live audio description is available for both Lincoln Center performances and ASL interpretation is also available for the Lincoln Center performance of This is Not a Memorized Script, This is a Well-Rehearsed Story. For accessibility concerns regarding the Lincoln Center peformances, please see their website. For specific information about accessability for the LCPA performance of «when we write with ashes», click here.

“I believe in the power of queer storytelling to liberate all of humanity,” said playwright Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko (He/They). “To tell the full queer Black truth; to birth justice from queer realities. The New Visions Fellowship marries the power of queer Black storytelling to theatrical performance and, in so doing, champions the two greatest loves of my life.”

National Queer Theater's New Visions Fellowship program is sponsored, in part, with funds from the NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program) and the Gilead Foundation.