Continuing with its mission to achieve parity in theatre, independent LA- and NYC-based collective The Kilroys has released its fifth annual list of industry-recommended new plays. Dubbed “The List,” the 2019 list is made up of 33 production-ready works by female or trans playwrights—some of which have already been seen in New York (and around the country) or have productions slated in the upcoming season.
Only playwrights whose plays have never before appeared on The Kilroys List were eligible this year, and nominated plays must have had no more than one professional production.
Three playwrights are cited for two separate works each: playwright Charly Evon Simpson, for her play Behind the Sheet, seen in an extended run at Ensemble Studio Theatre earlier this year, and for Form of a Girl Unknown, which will receive its world premiere at Salt Lake Acting Company this season; Stacey Rose, for her play America v. 2.1: The Sad Demise & Eventual Extinction of the American Negro, which earlier this year was the inaugural recipient of Barrington Stage Company’s Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, as well as for As Is: Conversations With Big Black Women in Confined Spaces; and Erika Dickerson-Despenza, for her play Cullud Wattah, which will be seen at The Public next season, as well as her for play [Hieroglyph].
Other plays featured on the list that will be seen Off-Broadway in the coming months include Emily Feldman's The Best We Could (A Family Tragedy), which is part of MTC's spring season, and Alexis Scheer's Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, which is part of WP Theater and Second Stage Theater's lineup this fall.
Sanaz Toossi's play English, seen at Roundabout Underground's Reading Series earlier this year, is featured on the list, as well as Lily Padilla's How to Defend Yourself, this year's Yale Drama Series Prize winner; Paola Lázaro-Muñoz's There's Always the Hudson, seen at Chicago's Goodman last year; Melis Aker's Field, Awakening, seen at Corkscrew Theater Festival last summer; and Kate Cortesi's Love, seen at Colt Coeur and WP Theater's Parity Plays Festival earlier this year.
The List is facilitated by The Kilroys following a survey of hundreds of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, producers, directors, and dramaturgs in the U.S. and abroad—who each recommend plays anonymously based on work they've encountered in the last 12 months. Members of The Kilroys act as facilitators throughout the process but do not recommend plays for The List.
The Kilroys are made up of playwrights, directors, and producers Jaclyn Backhaus, Hilary Bettis, Jennifer Chambers, Claudia De Vasco, Emma Goidel, Christina Ham, Jessica Hanna, Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Obehi Janice, Hansol Jung, Chelsea Marcantel, Caroline V McGraw, Bianca Sams, and Gina Young.
Since its founding in 2014, more than 100 productions of plays on The List have been announced and/or produced. The complete Kilroys List for 2019, as well as the Honorable Mentions, are below.
Field, Awakening - Melis Aker
John Proctor Is The Villain – Kimberly Belflower
Alabaster – Audrey Cefaly
Love – Kate Cortesi
Bees And Honey – Guadalís Del Carmen
Cullud Wattah – Erika Dickerson-Despenza
[Hieroglyph] – Erika Dickerson-Despenza
Stoneheart – Georgina Escobar
The Best We Could (A Family Tragedy) – Emily Feldman
Allond(R)A – Gina Femia
Potus: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive – Selina Fillinger
The Gap – Emma Goidel
Babel – Jacqueline Goldfinger
Model Minority – Chloé Hung
Torera – Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Before Evening Comes – Philana Imade Omorotionmwan
Ole White Sugah Daddy – Obehi Janice
Flex – Candrice Jones
Lipstick Lobotomy – Krista Knight
There's Always The Hudson – Paola Lázaro-Muñoz
This Party Sucks – Sofya Levitsky-Weitz
Room Enough (For Us All) – Daaimah Mubashshir
The Girl Is Chained – Genne Murphy
Mask Only – Ana Nogueira
How To Defend Yourself – Lily Padilla
Private – Mona Pirnot
The Forest – Lia Romeo
America V. 2.1: The Sad Demise And The Eventual Extinction Of The American Negro – Stacey Rose
As Is: Conversations With Big Black Women In Confined Spaces – Stacey Rose
Our Dear Dead Drug Lord –Alexis Scheer
Behind The Sheet – Charly Evon Simpson
Form Of A Girl Unknown – Charly Evon Simpson
English – Sanaz Toossi
The following 40 plays are Honorable Mentions:
Vivian Barnes – Jezebels
Bleu Beckford-Burrell – Lyons Pride
France-Luce Benson – Deux Femmes On The Edge De La Revolution
Kari Bentley-Quinn – Wendy And The Neckbeards
Eboni Booth – A Small World
J. Nicole Brooks – Hela
Meghan Brown – The Tasters
Eleanor Burgess – Wife Of A Salesman
Margot Connolly – Quiz Out
Patricia Cotter – The Daughters
Guadalis Del Carmen – My Father’s Keeper
Mia Chung – This Exquisite Corpse
Julia Doolittle – The Absentee
Olivia Dufault – For Want Of A Horse
Sarah Einspanier – Lunch Bunch
Sarah Einspanier – I Love Sean
L M Feldman – Thrive, Or What You Will
Gina Femia – This Happened Once At The Romance Depot Off The I-87
Jahna Ferron-Smith – The Woods
Jacqueline Goldfinger – Click
Mary Hamilton – A Liberal Tradition
Lily Houghton- Dear
Julia Izumi – Miku, And The Gods
Lindsay Joelle – The Garbologists
Emily Kaczmarek – Sam & Lizzie
Anchuli Felicia King – Golden Shield
Lisa Langford – Rastus And Hattie
Mia Mccullough – Household Spirits
Bonnie Metzgar – You Lost Me
Liz Morgan – Deliver: Letters To The Motherland From A Foreign Body
Laura Neill – Winter People
Aya Ogawa – The Nosebleed
Tira Palmquist – The Way North
Vickie Ramirez – Pure Native
Stacey Rose – Legacy Land
Abby Rosebrock – Blue Ridge
Crystal Skillman – Pulp Vérité
Kristin Slaney – Hockey Messiah
Andrea Stolowitz – The Berlin Diaries
Bryna Turner – Carlo At The Wedding
Visit Thekilroys.org/list-2019/ for more information.
