Kennedy Center Residency
Each year, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival engages thousands of college and university students in a celebration of theatre on both the regional and national level through regional festivals that challenge students to submit their best design work, directing work, original plays, original musicals, acting scenes, and theatrical productions for evaluation by academics and professionals who are leaders in their fields.
At the conclusion of these regional festivals, a small number of young artists are chosen as representatives of the best in their field from their region. In April of each year, the Kennedy Center brings those young artists to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC for a week-long intensive of workshops, lectures, and classes. It's also during this week that named awards are given to the best of the best young artists in their respective fields.
The Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards celebrates a variety of dramatic writing, everything from the best full-length play written by a college or university student to the best ten-minute play. The awards showcase the best student plays written around issues involved with the LGBTQ+ community (named The Paula Vogel Award in Playwriting) to the best-written comedies (The Mark Twain Prize in Comedy). Each playwright is awarded a cash prize plus a residency at a developmental center for writers.
This year, The Provincetown Theater and the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) are proud to sponsor a residency for two young student playwrights, Josiah Turner for his play BECOMING!! and Beth Hyland for her play, FIRES, OHIO. Both writers will use their time here in Provincetown to write, speak with fellow artists, speak with arts leaders, and enjoy the many different expressions of art our community supports.
“I’m grateful that the FAWC and The Provincetown Theater are partnering with us at the Kennedy Center for this new residency.
It’s an unmatched creative environment for emerging playwrights
to find a supportive community and immerse themselves
in the Town’s rich history in the arts.”
– Gregg Henry, Artistic Director Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Josiah Thomas Turner - 2023 Residency Recipient
Josiah Thomas Turner is a queer, Black artist, musician and theater-maker born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned his MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. Josiah’s work has been developed with and seen at Fade To Black Theatre Fest, Wild Winds Texas, the constructivists, Breaking & Entering, The Fled, and The Kennedy Center. Turner was a finalist for Magic in Rough Spaces at Rorschach Theatre, winner of the Kennedy Center’s Planet Earth Prize, Ken Ludwig Playwriting Scholarship, and National Undergraduate Theatre award as well as being a Semi-Finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Playwright’s Conference, and the Playwright’s Realm’s Scratchpad Series.
Beth Hyland - 2023 Residency Recipient
Beth Hyland is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include Fires, Ohio, Clearing, Seagulls, Killed a Man (Joking), Red Bowl at the Jeffs, and For Annie.
Her work has been developed regionally in the US and the UK at Goodman Theatre’s New Stages Festival, Steppenwolf LookOut, Know Theatre, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Stephen Joseph Theatre, and Actors Theatre of Louisville; in New York at The Hearth and Dixon Place; and around Chicago with The Sound, Jackalope Theatre, First Floor Theater, The Story Theatre, Broken Nose Theatre, The Passage Theatre, and others. Her play Fires, Ohio is the 2023 recipient of the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting.
She is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at UC San Diego under the mentorship of Naomi Iizuka and Deborah Stein. She is represented by UTA.
