FST Recovery Project commissioning emerging playwright for new work

As Florida Studio Theatre builds its new Recovery Project, it has received support from the Terrence McNally Foundation to offer a new commission for an emerging playwright who identifies as being in recovery from a substance use condition.

The Terrence McNally Recovery Commission offers $10,000 and an opportunity to work with four-time Tony Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Craig Lucas, who will serve as a resource and artistic mentor. The theater also is commissioning Lucas himself to develop a new play.

Lucas is best known for his Tony-nominated play “Prelude to a Kiss,” and for such works as “Reckless” and the books to the musicals “The Light in the Piazza,” “An American in Paris” and this season’s “Days of Wine and Roses.”

“By being able to commission artists in recovery, not only do we continue to let people know that recovery is possible, but we also get to uplift and demonstrate that many artists in recovery are thriving,” said Sean Daniels, the director of the Recovery Project. Daniels wrote about his own experiences with alcohol in his autobiographical play “The White Chip,” which FST recently produced as part of its Stage III series.

“In 2015, one-tenth of all U.S. overdose deaths occurred in Florida,” Daniels said in a statement. “It means so much that we’re launching this commission project with Terrence, someone who is Florida-born and from a leading Florida theater.”

Before his death in Sarasota in 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic, McNally was one of the most prominent playwrights of his era. He was the winner of five Tony Awards, including for his plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class” and for the musicals “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “Ragtime,” and he was the author of more than three dozen other plays and musicals. He was born in St. Petersburg but grew up in Texas.

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McNally long credited Angela Lansbury for leading him to sobriety.

The one-year commission will lead to a “works-in-progress” presentation at FST that will be open to the public and feature both the commissioned playwright and Lucas, the theater said.

Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins said FST has been working with emerging playwrights since it was started more than 50 years ago. “What makes this collaboration particularly special is the opportunity to connect one of my favorite American playwrights, Craig Lucas, with an emerging playwright as a mentor.”

The project will limit applications to 100 and the deadline is May 30. For more information and to apply: floridastudiotheatre.org/work-with-us/submit-a-play

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida Studio Theatre encouraging new plays dealing with recovery