Announcing the 2021 Writing Retreats
Over Spring-Summer 2021, Page 73 is offering five playwrights the opportunity to design their own professional writer’s retreat, tailored to each of their individual needs and preferences.
These week-long self-directed retreats include housing and travel expenses, food, and an additional $1,000 stipend paid by Page 73.
The participating playwrights, Bleu Beckford-Burrell, John J. Caswell, Jr., Emma Goidel, Amina Henry, and Jessica Huang, will have regular check-ins with the Page 73 artistic team and document moments of their trip to share upon their return.
Page 73 will then bring the playwrights together to recount their writing experiences, with Page 73 Artistic Director Michael Walkup and Page 73 Associate Producer Kari Olmon.
Bleu Beckford-Burrell is a first-generation Jamaican-American actor/playwright. Born and raised in New York City, she also works for non-profit organizations where she teaches acting to teens. Her plays include: P.S.365 (2019 O’Neill Finalist), showcased at EST (Youngblood Workshop Series) and The National Black Theatre (Keep the Soul Alive reading series); Lyons Pride (2018 BAPF, Princess Grace Award Finalist, 2019 The Kilroy’s Honorable Mention, and Yale Drama Series Runner Up), showcased at Playwrights Realm (Ink’d Festival of New Plays) and EST (Bloodwork Reading Series); La Race (2020 Normal Ave Finalist and O’Neill, BAPF Semi-finalist,) upcoming showcases at Faultline Theatre (Irons in the Fire) and Page 73 (Virtual Residency). She is the 2021 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow, a member of the 2020-2021 Interstate 73 writers group, and a Colt Coeur resident. She received the Playwrights Horizons Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman Commission for Emerging Playwrights (2020) and has been nominated for South Coast Repertory Elizabeth George Emerging Writer Commission (2021). M.F.A. Rutgers University. BleuBeckford.com
John J. Caswell, Jr. is a playwright originally from Phoenix, a current fellow at Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program, the winner of the 2020-2021 Paula Vogel Playwriting Award at the Vineyard Theatre, and the recipient of the 2021 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award for Wet Brain. Additional honors include the 2020 Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, 2020 Rita and Burton Goldberg Playwriting Prize, 2019 Relentless Award Finalist, 2018 MacDowell Fellowship, 2018 SPACE on Ryder Farm Creative Residency, 2019-2020 Play Group member at Ars Nova, and the 2017 Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship. His work is cited frequently as an example of queer-centric theatre, most recently referenced in articles appearing in Theatre Topics, The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, and the European Journal of Comparative American Studies. Included as a consummate demonstration of auto-ethnographic theatre, his play SHOTS: A Love Story was published as part of Johnny Saldaña's book Ethnotheatre: Research From Page to Stage published by Left Coast Press. John is currently under commission at Playwrights Horizons and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Education: Juilliard School, Hunter College, and Arizona State University. www.johnjcaswelljr.com
Emma Goidel’s plays include Women and Children (Page 73 residency), The Gap (Barrymore Award, Kilroys List 2019), A Knee That Can Bend (Nominee, ATCA/Steinberg Award & Lanford Wilson Award), Local Girls (Finalist, Princess Grace Award), and We Can All Agree To Pretend This Never Happened (EST, Òran Mór, Tiny Dynamite/InterAct). She is the 2020 Page 73 Playwriting Fellow and a member of the 2020-2021 Interstate 73 writers group. Her work has also been presented by Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, InterAct, LAByrinth, Playwrights Realm, Playwrights’ Center, NYSAF, and PlayPenn’s the Foundry. She is a co-founder of Orbiter 3, and a Kilroy.
Amina Henry is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Productions include: The Johnsons, Hunter John and Jane, Ducklings and The Animals at JACK, New Light Theater's The Great Novel at The Flea, Bully at Interrobang Theater, SUNY Purchase and Clubbed Thumb's 2019 WinterWorks Festival, and HERO Theater's Troy (Los Angeles, CA). Her work has been developed and/or produced by: The New Group, Project Y Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Kitchen Dog Theater, among others. She is a New Georges Affiliate Artist.
Jessica Huang is a playwright based in New York, from Minnesota. She is the inaugural recipient of the 4 Seasons Residency; the 2019 resident playwright at Chance Theater; a 2018 MacDowell Fellow; and a three-time Playwrights’ Center Fellow. Her work includes The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (2018 Barry and Bernice Stavis Award, 2017 Kilroy’s List), Mother of Exiles (2020 Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, 2020 Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, 2020 Kendeda Prize Finalist), Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying, and Purple Cloud. She has commissions with Manhattan Theatre Club, TimeLine Theatre Company, Audible, Theater Masters, History Theatre, and Theater Mu. Her work has been seen or read at New York Stage and Film, The New Group, Atlantic Theater Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, The Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Minnesota Museum of American Art, Yellow Earth Theatre and more. She has received awards from the Sloan Foundation, the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Jessica co-founded and co-directs Other Tiger Productions, a theatrical production company with a mission to pursue multidisciplinary collaborations, intentional inclusivity and a re-examination of traditional theater practices. She has been a member of the Civilians R&D Group, Page 73's Interstate 73 and Ars Nova Play Group. She is a graduate of the Playwrights Program at Juilliard.
