Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company has announced the recipients of the 2023 Judith Champion Launch Commissioning Program.

Designed to support early career playwrights through facilitating industry relationships, this is the first year the commission has been offered without the living support of underwriter Judith Champion, who passed away last year.

Winners of the 2023 prize are Isabelle Barbier, Shayan Lotfi and a.k. payne. Information on their new works will be released at a later date.

Atlantic’s new play and musical development activities are currently made possible, in part, by leadership support from the Howard Gilman Foundation and The Tow Foundation, with additional funding from the Axe-Houghton Foundation, the Barbara Bell Cumming Charitable Trust, the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Atlantic productions and programs are also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.