First Stage's Playwrights-in-Residence

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Photos courtesy of First Stage

First Stage artistic director Jeff Frank notes that James DeVita has been the company’s resident playwright for ages. “Thirty-some years,” DeVita affirms. “Bambi was the first play. We didn’t have the title ‘resident playwright;’ we just started doing things together, happened to do a few in a row, and some years later thought we should call it something.”

“Then, we started expanding our commitment to new plays,” Frank continues. “Jimmy’s super-busy, so schedules weren’t always aligning. Then I worked with Alvaro Saar Rios a couple times and really liked that relationship. And John Maclay, who’d been working for us for years in the Academy, did several adaptations. Then Alice Austen did her first work with us, and I realized, here is this cadre of wonderful artists that I’m continuing to learn from and with, and who really understand who First Stage is, with our commitment to age-appropriate casting and to plays that speak from a young person’s point of view with respect and a sense of the power of that narrative and the power of seeing themselves onstage. The first thing I did was reach out to Jimmy, saying hey, as our resident playwright, are you okay if we expand that concept to include some others?”

“I was flattered that he even asked me,” DeVita replies. “I said, well of course. I’m flattered to be in a group with these younger and more diverse voices that we’re getting on the stage, which we need.” And thus began a new four-member First Stage Playwright-in-Residence program, rare in the nation.

“All of us are on this journey to expand our understanding of the world and our understanding of the craft,” Frank says. “So here is a collective of artists, all of whom bring different perspectives, histories and levels of artistry. But what does ‘in residence’ mean? It’s that feeling that we are at home when we work together. There’s a level of understanding, of family, of candor, which is super-helpful in creating work. And my hope is that our collective networks will grow exponentially. Wherever they work, they’re meeting directors, designers and actors; as long as we keep communicating and sharing, we’ll grow in an understanding of all that can help make First Stage better than we are today.”

Theater for Young Audiences

Since First Stage is already widely recognized as a leading theater for young audiences in America, that’s an exciting prospect. How will it work? Frank will bring ideas for First Stage premieres to the playwrights individually. The playwrights will bring Frank ideas for plays they’d like to write, adapt or see at First Stage. They’ll offer advice on season selection, provide feedback in play development workshops and recommend other artists as good fits for the company.

“I rely on input from others.” Frank says, “The work is too important to think that I can do it in isolation. I preach to young people all the time that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Here are four artists that can help me and, hopefully, we help them in return.”

Saar Rios’ First Stage commissions include Mole Hill, Luchadora! and this season’s opener, On the Wings of a Mariposa, a bilingual adaptation of Wisconsin writer Barbara Joose’s novel, Ghost Wings. First Stage’s workshops with Milwaukee’s Latino community helped assure that the play spoke across languages and cultures. “There were genuine elements there that I was happy to take on,” Saar Rios says. “I want to support the stories of writers of color, too, especially women of color. I felt that because I would work with a Latina composer, Dinorah Marquez, we would make something that was our own and that would be beneficial on so many levels, and I love the fact that Barbara is based in Wisconsin.”

Maclay’s musical adaptation of Drew Daywait’s The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors premieres in March. Longtime director of the First Stage Theatre Academy and founding director of the Young Company, Maclay has written many world premieres for First Stage, including Robin Hood, Anatole and Nate The Great. “I know from working here that a lot of care is put into a play for 18 months before it opens. I’ve had huge moments in plays get solved in the workshop talkbacks. Something wonderful happens here, when amazingly skilled professionals work with really skilled, authentic young people.”

DeVita’s Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand premieres in April. It tells the true story of Alex Flynn Scott, who, before dying of cancer at 8 years old, created a foundation to fight childhood cancer, raising millions for research and support. Alice Austen’s Girls in a Boat tells the history of the first U.S. Olympic women’s rowing team. It so inspired the young actresses in the First Stage Young Company premiere last season that several are rowers now.

For more on First Stage, visit firststage.org.