The New Works Producer Fellowships immerse aspiring artistic producers in the best practices of creating, resourcing, and managing a new play’s development path from first impulse through production.  Each New Works Producer will be paired with a Resident Playwright to produce their new play development activities. Each year the Institute will accept three Fellows as part of Arena’s ongoing Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship program >, which trains future leaders for careers in the professional theater.

Travis Ballenger is a 2008 graduate of Southern Methodist University, with a degree in Directing and Playwriting.  At SMU, Travis studied and assisted Stanley Wojewodski Jr., worked with Mac Wellman and received the Garland Wright award in directing. Along with his producing activities, Travis is currently working on The Rising Generation, a group dedicated to refining the conversation between young professionals and theater institutions.  An African-American American Voices New Play Institute Allen Lee Hughes Senior Producing Fellow, Travis hails from Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Amrita Mangus is thrilled to continue working with Arena Stage in the inaugural year of the American Voices New Play Institute! She recently completed a dramaturgy fellowship with Arena Stage, where she served as the dramaturg for the mainstage production of Crowns and Harlan at the Rockpile and Journey to the Door of No Return: A Hip Hop Odyssey for the Downstairs New Play Reading Series. Other dramaturgy credits include Skywriter (2009 Cap Fringe Festival), Cymbeline (The Great River Shakespeare Festival), and The Who's Tommy (Arizona Repertory Theater). As the institute fellow, Amrita line-produced the Defining Diversity Convening in December 2009 is line-producing Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies, starring Maurice Hines. She holds a BFA in Dramaturgy/Theatre History from the University of Arizona.

Ronee Penoi is a 2007 graduate of Princeton University with a major in Music and certificates in Theatre and Dance and Vocal Performance and the recipient of the Francis LeMoyne Page prize.  Ronee’s undergraduate thesis work incorporated both directing and writing music for Shakespeare’s Tempest in the McCarter’s Berlind theater space.  Ronee previously worked in casting and as an assistant director (Hamlet, On the Eve of Friday Morning) at The Shakespeare Theatre Company. A Native American from Pittsburgh, Ronee came to Arena Stage as the Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow, and in the 08-09 season worked with Michael Greif (Next to Normal), Pam McKinnon (A Delicate Balance) and Molly Smith (Legacy of Light). Ronee's directing credits include: Four Rooms Waking by Julia Cain (Capitol Fringe Festival 2008), Marivaux's The False Servant (TimeSpace Theatre Co., NY), Carousel, The Secret Garden, and Myths and Hymns (Princeton), among others. Ronee is trained in Noh theatre (Noh Training Project 2005), and has also been a script reader for Sundance, and the Source Theatre Festival in DC.

Timeline

The first class of New Play Producing Fellows will run through December 31, 2010.  The second class will begin January 1, 2011.  Check back here for information on how to apply for the second round of Fellowships.