Spotlight: Human Rights

A new initiative by Epic Theatre Ensemble and The Center for International Human Rights at John Jay College in partnership with Lark Play Development Center with the goal of bringing together practitioners in the field of human rights with theatre artists, scholars, and students from NYC colleges and high schools, to collaborate on new plays and new scholarship that raises public awareness about the lives of international aid workers.

Made possible by generous support from
Ford Foundation's Good Neighbor Committee

with additional support from
The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust 

About the Program

Over the course of 12 months, four teams comprised of playwrights, practitioners, scholars, and students will be assigned a priority question in the human rights field to explore and discuss. The playwrights and scholars will be commissioned to create new work that tackles these questions, sharing their efforts throughout the creative process with their team. The initiative will culminate in a 5-day conference at John Jay College and nearby theatres and cultural organizations in Manhattan in June 2012. New plays will be presented to the public side by side with new scholarship, all followed by interactive workshops, fostering a diverse and multi-faceted community that has the potential to last far beyond the initiative’s life-span, as well as generate new work that has a meaningful impact for the human rights field.

The Writers

Over twenty writers were invited to submit proposals to participate in the program. We're very pleased to announce the four who were selected for commissions for this first year of Spotlight: Human Rights:

Dominique Morrisseau
Heather Raffo
Ken Urban
Stefanie Zadravec