What is AracaWorks?
From The Araca Group’s early days, we have been dedicated to the cultivation of new work, beginning with Araca’s production of Urinetown, which was plucked from the New York Fringe Festival in 1999 and subsequently transferred from off-Broadway to Broadway.
AracaWorks, a biannual week-long reading series taking place in New York City, shares this spirit. Our goal is to offer opportunities to new plays from emerging and established playwrights which might not otherwise be heard at this stage of their development process. Each play is paired with a director, a cast, and a brief rehearsal before a public presentation.
Additionally, we hope to give audiences a glimpse into plays’ texts at their cores before other artistic and technical production elements are added.
Audiences are treated each night to a reading of a new play at an early stage of development. Araca’s goal with this project is to create a platform for the development of new plays and new voices. The series will provide an outlet for playwrights to explore their material in a forum open to the public, yet safe from critical reviews.
In addition, each AracaWorks series presents a play by the winner of our nationwide graduate playwriting award. The Award winner will:
- Travel to and from New York City
- Participate in two rehearsals with director, cast, & Araca Group development team
- Feature prominently in event press release, as well as industry invitations (agents & NFPs)
- Attend New York reading of his/her work
- Receive feedback from director & Araca Group development team following reading, as well a establish the roots of a producer-writer relationship beyond AracaWorks
Announcing the Sixth Annual AracaWorks Graduate Playwriting Award Competition:
We invite students currently enrolled in graduate of professional programs nationwide to participate in this celebration of new work. The style and subject matter of the play is up to the submitting scholar. Deadline for submissions: May 31, 2013. Reading to be held in mid-July in NYC.
How to apply:
- Please download, print, and sign an AracaWorks release form.
- Submit the release form, along with play (in pdf format, under 10MB) to: aracaworks@gmail.com
(plays without signed release forms cannot be considered)
Trajectory of past AracaWorks
Disgraced by Ayad Aktar (AW Fall 2010; American Theater Company, Winter 2011; LCT3, Fall 2012; Bush Theatre (London), Spring 2013)
Suicide, Incorporated by Andrew Hinderaker (AW Fall 2010; Roundabout Underground, Fall 2011)
How the World Began by Catherine Trieschmann (AW Fall 2010; South Coast Rep, Fall 2011)
Warrior Class by Kenneth Lin (AW Fall 2011; Second Stage Uptown, Summer 2012)
Recall by Eliza Clark (AW Fall 2011; Colt Coeur, Summer 2012)
That Good Night by Andrew Dolan (AW Spring 2012; The Road Theatre Company, Summer 2012)
Past Graduate Playwriting Award Winners:
Lila Feinberg (Vertebrae) – Columbia University
David Brian Colbert (C.O.A.L.) – Primary Stages
Caroline V. McGraw (The Vaults) – Yale University
Mike Lew (Stockton) – The Juilliard School
Congratulations to Ayad Akhtar who has been named the winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Disgraced, which made its New York premiere at the inaugural AracaWorks.
Disgraced (2012) New York Premiere, LCT3
Suicide, Inc (AracaWorks December 2011) opened at the Roundabout Underground on November 6, 2011, directed by Jonathan Berry.
How the World Began (AracaWorks December 2010) will open at the Women's Project on December 28, 2011, directed by Daniella Topol.