Please help us welcome 2017-18 Many Voices Fellows Stacey Rose and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay and Many Voices Mentee Julia Gay.
The Many Voices program, which was created in 1994 and significantly expanded in 2013, will see another increase in funding from the Jerome Foundation for the incoming fellows, from $12,500 to $18,000, plus $2,000 in play development funds.
The Many Voices Fellowship is for early-career writers of color. The fellows receive dedicated support from Many Voices Coordinator Christina Ham and introductions to theater leaders in the Twin Cities and Chicago. One fellow each year must be Minnesota-based, and both writers spend a year-long residency in Minnesota. Previous recipients include Sharif Abu-Hamdeh, Benjamin Benne, Marisa Carr, Cristina Castro, Janaki Ranpura, Harrison David Rivers, James Anthony Tyler and Josh Wilder. The Playwrights’ Center’s 2017-18 Many Voices Fellows are:
Stacey Rose, a theater artist from Elizabeth, New Jersey, who has presented work at The Fire This Time Festival, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and others. Rose earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU where she was honored with The Goldberg Prize for her play “The Danger.”
Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, a Minnesota-based writer whose work is focused on creating tools and spaces for the amplification of refugee voices, and whose award-winning play Kung Fu Zombies Vs. Cannibals premiered with Mu Performing Arts in 2013.
The Many Voices Mentorship awards a Minnesota-based beginning playwright of color with individually-curated writing and play development services and a $2,000 stipend. The Playwrights’ Center’s 2017-18 Many Voices Mentee is Julia Gay, a writer, performer and dancer who was part of the Transatlantic Love Affair ensemble who devised Promise Land (Guthrie Theater, January 2017) and whose one-woman show motherlanded premiered in 2016 in Pangea World Theater’s Emerging Artist Series.
