True Love Productions




	Established in 2010, True Love Productions’ New Play Commissioning Program, headed by Tom Cole, gives artists at any point in their careers the opportunity to create original work, free of commercial constraints. Past artists include Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Heidi Schreck, Sheila Callaghan, and Craig Lucas, among others. In this time when we cannot gather and artists are struggling to find voice and space, TLP is focusing on supporting artists in the most nascent stage of creation by offering commissions tethered to two years of development support. No restrictions are given on content. We are eager to encounter the work that will emerge from this time.

	DeLanna Studi DeLanna Studi is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She has over 25 years of experience as a performer, storyteller, educator, facilitator, advocate, and activist. Her theater credits include the First National Broadway Tour of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play August: Osage County, Off-Broadway’s Gloria: A Life at the Daryl Roth Theatre, Informed Consent at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street, and Regional Theaters (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone, and Indiana Repertory Theater). DeLanna originated roles in over twenty World Premieres including fourteen Native productions. A pivotal moment in her career was writing and performing And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears based on retracing her family’s footsteps along the Trail of Tears with her father. And So We Walked has been produced throughout the country and was the first American play chosen for the Journees Theatricales de Carthage in Tunisia, Africa. As a playwright, she has been commissioned by The Theatre Company, Theatre For One (New York and Chicago), and a new play for Period Piece. In film and television, DeLanna can be seen in the Peabody Award winning Edge of America, Hallmark’s Dreamkeeper, Goliath, Shameless, and General Hospital. She is a recipient of the Butcher Scholar Award, Mapfund Grant, and Cherokee Preservation Grant. Since 2007, she has served as the chair of the SAG-AFTRA National Native Americans Committee. She is the Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry.

	Nathan Alan Davis Nathan Alan Davis’s plays include THE HIGH GROUND (upcoming at Arena Stage), NAT TURNER IN JERUSALEM (New York Theatre Workshop), DONTRELL WHO KISSED THE SEA (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), and THE WIND AND THE BREEZE (Cygnet Theatre). Honors include a Whiting Award in Drama, a Steinberg Playwright Award, and the Stavis Playwright Award. Nathan is a Lecturer in Theater and Berlind Playwright-in-Residence at Princeton University. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, Indiana University Bloomington, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

	Donnetta Lavinia Grays Donnetta Lavinia Grays – raised in Columbia, South Carolina - is a Brooklyn based playwright and actor whose writing credits include WHERE WE STAND (Lucille Lortel Nominee, Drama League Nominee, 3X AUDELCO Nominee, World Premiere Co-production - WP Theater and Baltimore Centerstage. O’Neill Center National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist.), WARRIORS DON’T CRY (Theaterworks USA/Bushnell commission), LAST NIGHT AND THE NIGHT BEFORE (World Premiere - Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Kilroys List. Colorado New Play Summit. National New Play Network Showcase. Todd McNerney National Playwriting Award Winner. O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist.), LAID TO REST (O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference Finalist.) THE REVIEW OR HOW TO EAT YOUR OPPOSITION (WP Pipeline Festival. O’Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference Finalist.) THE NEW NORMAL and THE COWBOY IS DYING. Donnetta is a recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwright Award, Lilly Award, National Theater Conference Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playwright Award, and is the inaugural recipient of the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. She is a former Space on Ryder Farm Working Farm Resident, is a Time Warner Foundation WP Playwrights Lab alumna, a Civilians R&D Group alumna, an Actors Studio Playwright/Directors Unit alumna, and a terraNova Collective Groundbreakers Playwright group alumna. Her work has been previously developed with, Hedgebrook (Covid Class), New Harmony Project, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Labyrinth Theater Company, New York Theater Workshop, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Portland Stage Company, Pure Theatre Company, [the claque], Naked Angels, Classical Theater of Harlem, Slant Theater Project, terraNova Collective, and TOSOS. Donnetta is currently under commission from Steppenwolf, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and WP Theater. For television she has been staffed on Spectrum Original/Lionsgate’s "Manhunt", "Y: The Last Man" for FX Network/Color Force and is currently the Executive Story Editor on "Joe Exotic" starring Kate McKinnon for NBC Universal. Donnetta’s acting credits include Broadway's IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY and WELL. She has originated numerous roles including the Off-Broadway debut of her solo show WHERE WE STAND* (WP Theater/Baltimore Centerstage), MEN ON BOATS (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb), O EARTH (The Foundry Theatre), OF GOVERNMENT, TIN CAT SHOES and 16 WORDS OR LESS (all with Clubbed Thumb), BE THE DEATH OF ME and IN THE FOOTPRINT (The Civilians- as an Associate Artist), and SHIPWRECKED! AN ENTERTAINMENT (Primary Stages). Regionally, she has enjoyed runs at American Conservatory Theater, Barrington Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, Arena Stage, Hartford Theaterworks, Portland Stage Company, Baltimore Centerstage, Huntington Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and LA Women's Shakespeare Co. She is a 2-time Connecticut Critic's Circle Award Winner and a Helen Hayes Award Nominee. Her film and TV credits include THE BOOK OF HENRY, WILD CANARIES, THE ENGLISH TEACHER, and THE WRESTLER. She has enjoyed recurring roles on NEW AMSTERDAM, HAPPY, RUBICON, MERCY and LAW AND ORDER SVU. And guest starring roles on HIGH MAINTENANCE, THE NIGHT OF, BLUE BLOODS,THE BLACKLIST, A GIFTED MAN, LAW AND ORDER, LAW AND ORDER:CI and THE SOPRANOS. Donnetta is a Part-Time Lecturer at The New School of Drama. BA: College of Charleston. MFA: University of California, Irvine.

	Stacey Robinson Stacey Karen Robinson is a multidisciplinary theater artist. She engages a somatic, improvisational process to create solo work. Her experimental works often investigate death/life/laughter thresholds. She is fascinated by the possibilities of nonlinear storytelling to explore the emotional & spirit life of Black folx, often using breath work and movement as adjectives to a narrative. Stacey is a Resident Artist (59th Season) at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club and a Bushwick Starr Reading Series playwright (2020-2021). She was awarded an Art Matters Grant (2019). She performed her solo work, YOU NEVER CAN ALWAYS SOMETIMES TELL, at JACK (NYC) and Salvage Vanguard Theater (TX). The work was developed with support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Foundation of Contemporary Arts. Her previous monodrama, QUIET FRENZY, is published in solo / black / woman: scripts, interviews, and essays, Northwestern University Press (2013). Performances of QUIET FRENZYincluded: JACK, the John L. Warfield Center for African & African American Studies (TX), the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University (IL) and the Wild Project (NYC). Stacey received a BA in Africana Studies from Brown University and trained in the Actor Training Program of the Juilliard School. She is a proud Bronx native and received a Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award for Playwriting (2009). As an actress she has appeared in numerous productions, including: the tour of Kaneza Schaal’s, JACK &, which played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Live Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Walker Art Center, REDCAT, On The Boards, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art; Daniel Alexander Jones’ DUAT (Soho Rep.) directed by Will Davis and Toshiki Okada’s QUIET, COMFORT (Hoi Polloi) directed by Alec Duffy. Upcoming: Performance in Afrofemononomy’s Residency at Performance Space 122 (Spring 2021).

	Julia Izumi Julia Izumi is a writer and performer who makes plays, musicals, and other theatrical nonsense. Her work has been developed and presented at Manhattan Theatre Club, Clubbed Thumb, Bushwick Starr, WP Theater, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Seattle Rep, Barn Arts Collective, NNPN/Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights' Workshop, BMI’s Librettists Workshop, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Williamstown Theatre Festival, CAATA’s National Asian-American Theatre ConFest, Pork Filled Productions, and San Francisco Playhouse. Honors for her work include O’Neill’s NPC Finalist, Kilroys List Honorable Mention, and Theater Masters’ Take Ten. She has received the inaugural OPC Dr. Kerry English Award, KCACTF’s Darrell Ayers Playwriting Award, NY Society Library's Emerging Women's Artist Grant and a Puffin Artists' Grant. She is a 2020/2021 New Georges Audrey Resident and an upcoming New Dramatists member. MFA: Brown University. www.juliaizumi.com

	Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas is a theater-maker based in New York and Artistic Director of the Obie winning company Fulcrum Theater. His most recent play, RECENT ALIEN ABDUCTIONS, was presented at the Humana Festival. Other works include BIRD IN THE HAND (Fulcrum Theater, New York Times Critics Pick, published by Dramatic Publishing) and BLIND MOUTH SINGING (NAATCO, New York Times Critics Pick). His many awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts; as well as the Helen Merrill Award; the Anschutz Distinguished Fellowship at Princeton University; and the Robert Chesley Award, among others. His plays have also been published by Playscripts and TDR/The Drama Review. He has been commissioned by the Mark Taper Forum, South Coast Repertory and Playwrights Horizons. He is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop and an alumnus of New Dramatists. He teaches playwriting at Bard College.

	Heidi Schreck Heidi completed her TLP commission, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, in 2017. WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME was originally produced in the summer of 2017 by Clubbed Thumb and True Love Productions. The piece was initially developed by True Love Productions and then further developed in collaboration with Clubbed Thumb. This production of WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME completed its run at New York Theatre Workshop in fall 2018. A limited Broadway run of the play began on March 14th, 2019, at The Hayes Theater and closed on August 24th. The Broadway run was followed by a national tour that is currently on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A live capture of the play is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist. It garnered two Tony Award nominations for Best Play and Best Leading Actress in a Play. It won an Obie Award for Best New American Play, a New York Drama Critics’ Circle award for Best American Play, and an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best New Play. HEIDI SCHRECK is a writer and actor living in Brooklyn. Her latest plays include What the Constitution Means to Me, developed by Clubbed Thumb and True Love Productions, and Grand Concourse, which debuted at Playwrights Horizons and Steppenwolf Theatre in 2014-15. Grand Concourse was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize, and winner of both a Claire Tow Fellowship and a Lily Award. Other plays, including Creature, There Are No More Big Secrets and The Consultant, have been produced by Long Wharf Theatre, Page73, Seattle Public Theatre, ART, SpeakEasy, New George, Rattlestick Theatre Company and more. Heidi has commissionsfrom the Atlantic Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club and South Coast Repertory Theatre and has been a playwriting fellow with the Claire Tow Foundation, Soho Rep and the Sundance Theatre Lab. Heidi’s television writing includes I Love Dick, Billions and Nurse Jackie, and she is currently developing a new TV series with Annapurna Pictures and Amazon. As an actor, Heidi has performed at Berkeley Rep, Roundabout Theatre, MTC, Playwrights Horizons, Shakespeare in the Park, Clubbed Thumb and Two-Headed Calf and on TV in Nurse Jackie, Billions, Law & Order: SVU and The Good Wife. Heidi is the recipient of two Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award and the Theatre World Award.

	Sheila Callaghan Sheila completed her TLP commission, EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH, in 2013. EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH was performed at the Cherry Lane Theater in a co-production with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and the Theatre at Boston Court, January 28 to March 29, 2015. Sheila Callaghan’s plays have been produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwright’s Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, The Flea, Woolly Mammoth, Boston Court, and Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, among others. Sheila is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, a MacDowell Residency, a Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award. Her plays have been produced internationally in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Germany, Portugal, and the Czech Republic. These include SCAB, CRAWL FADE TO WHITE, CRUMBLE (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), WE ARE NOT THESE HANDS, DEAD CITY, LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING, KATE CRACKERNUTS, THAT PRETTY PRETTY; OR,THE RAPE PLAY, FEVER/DREAM, EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH, ROADKILL CONFIDENTIAL, ELEVADA, and WOMEN LAUGHING ALONE WITH SALAD. She is published with Playscripts.com and Samuel French, and several of her collected works are published with Counterpoint Press. She has taught playwriting at Columbia University, The University of Rochester, The College of New Jersey, Florida State University, and Spalding University. Sheila is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb and a member of the Obie winning playwright’s organization 13P. Sheila is also an alumni of New Dramatists. In 2010, Callaghan was profiled by Marie Claire as one of “18 Successful Women Who Are Changing the World.” She was also named one of Variety magazine’s “10 Screenwriters to Watch” of 2010.

	Craig Lucas Craig Lucas is the author of the plays Missing Persons, Reckless, Blue Window, Prelude to a Kiss,God's Heart, The Dying Gaul, Stranger, Small Tragedy, Prayer for My Enemy and The Singing Forest. His screenplays include Blue Window, Longtime Companion, Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, The Secret Lives of Dentistsand The Dying Gaul (which he also directed). Lucas has written the scripts for the musicals Marry Me A Little,Songs by Stephen Sondheim, Three Postcards (music and lyrics by Craig Carnelia) and The Light in the Piazza(music and lyrics by Adam Guettel). His opera libretti include Orpheus in Love (composer Gerald Busby) and Two Boys (composer Nico Muhly), which premiered at the English National Opera. Lucas directed the world premiere of The Light in the Piazza at the Intiman Theater in Seattle, the film Birds of America, the play This Thing of Darkness (by Lucas and David Schulner) and Harry Kondoleon's plays Saved or Destroyed and Play Yourself. He has created a new scenario for Christopher Wheeldon's version of Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella for the Dutch National Ballet.

	Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann Greg Kotis is the author of many plays and musicals including Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards, Yeast Nation (Book/Lyrics), The Unhappiness Plays, The Boring-est Poem in the World, The Truth About Santa, Pig Farm, Eat the Taste, Urinetown(Book/Lyrics, for which he won an Obie Award and two Tony® Awards), and Jobey and Katherine. His work has been produced and developed in theaters across the country and around the world, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theater, American Theater Company, Henry Miller's Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Stage and Film, Perseverance Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep, South Coast Rep, and The Old Globe, among others. Greg is a member of the Neo-Futurists, the Cardiff Giant Theater Company, ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild, and is a 2010-11 Lark Play Development Center Playwrights Workshop Fellow. He grew up in Wellfleet, Massachusetts and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife Ayun Halliday, his daughter India, and his son Milo. Mark Hollmann is a musical-theater composer and lyricist who received the Tony Award, the National Broadway Theatre Award, and the Obie Award for his score to Urinetown the Musical, which itself won Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards for best musical. In addition, Urinetown was selected as one of the season's best plays in The Best Plays of 2000-2001: The Otis Guernsey/Burns Mantle Theatre Yearbook. From its successful run on Broadway, Urinetown has had productions across the U.S. and throughout the world, including Japan, South Korea, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the Philippines. His other musicals as composer/lyricist include: Bigfoot and Other Lost Souls (Perseverance Theater), Yeast Nation (New York International Fringe Festival, Perseverance Theatre and American Theater Company), The Man in the White Suit (New York Stage and Film), Alchemist the Musical (Seattle Fringe Festival and The Unusual Cabaret), Jack the Chipper (Greenview Arts Center, Chicago), The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat (University Theatre, University of Kansas), Kabooooom! (University Theater, University of Chicago), I Think I Can and Deal with It! (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and Fare for All (Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, NYC). In Chicago, he was a founding member of Cardiff Giant Theater, for which he acted in and co-authored The Rack, Theater of Funny, The Mercy Ripper, LBJFKKK, Love Me, All Eight Die, and After Taste. For television, he has written songs for Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites. Mark has served on the Tony Nominating Committee, and currently serves on the council of the Dramatists Guild of America and the advisory council of the Dramatists Guild Fund. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).