Stanford Calderwood Fund and the Huntington Playwriting Fellows

The Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays was established at the Huntington Theatre Company in 2001 as an endowment dedicated to fostering the work of American playwrights at all stages of their careers.

Stanford Calderwood left a legacy in Boston of arts patronage that is nearly unmatched. In his brief stint as WGBH president, he was a moving force behind "Masterpiece Theatre," convincing Mobil Oil to donate a million dollars to endow the program. As the CEO of Trinity Investment Management from 1981-1999, he left his mark on many a cultural institution before his death in May of 2002. Devoted to his wife, Norma Jean, he made numerous donations in her name, including multiple curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts and Harvard, as well as green space at both those institutions, a professorship at Boston College, and the directorships of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Cambridge Art Association, and the Huntington Theatre Company, where Norma Jean was a long-time trustee. The few times Stanford Calderwood allowed his own name to grace his donations, it nearly always was paired with an institution devoted to writers and writing, such as the MacDowell Colony, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Huntington Theatre Company.

It is here at the Huntington that we feel his presence most personally -- his generous endowment of a commissioning fund specifically for new plays is not only unusual, but the scope of the gift itself is almost unmatched in the national theatre. Both Stanford and Norma Jean were enthusiastic patrons of the Huntington, who believed in Managing Director Michael Maso and former Artistic Director Nicholas Martin's plans to expand the theatre's focus on new work. In that spirit, he created the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays in January of 2002. The Fund has awarded commissions to Jon Robin Baitz, Christopher Denham, Stephen Belber, and the Calderwood Commissioned Huntington Playwright Fellows.

Michael Maso has noted that "the development of new plays for the American theatre is, fundamentally, uneconomic, given the unpredictable nature of creativity and the costs involved in producing plays that do not simply appeal to the lowest common denominator." It is, however, "an extraordinarily worthwhile challenge to undertake." It is our goal to use these funds to explore all manner of theatrical expression from the American playwright, to work at re-thinking and re-imagining the processes of new play development, and to provide a groundswell from which plays may spring, thus enriching both the American theatre and Boston's own cultural arts scene.


The Huntington Playwriting Fellows

Since 2003, the Huntington Theatre Company has been pleased to dedicate a portion of the Calderwood Fund for New American Plays to the well-being of the local playwright. Every other year, the Huntington commissions a group of Boston-area writers in whom we deeply believe, and pledges to support their artistic efforts. As Fellows, the writers commit to a two-year residency, after which time they become associate artists of the Huntington. The current class of fellows -- Kirsten Greenidge, Jacqui Parker, Ken Urban, and Joyce Van Dyke -- are now in the second year of their residency. As fellows, they participate in a writers' collective, receive dramaturgical support and readings of their plays, and work with the Huntington's staff, audiences, and students to broaden their experiences as playwrights and artists.

By commissioning early-career local writers, we reinforce the mission of the Huntington's new play development initiatives while channeling our resources back into the community in which we live and work.


The Huntington Playwriting Fellows (listed alphabetically by residency):

2003-2005
John Kuntz
Melinda Lopez
Ronan Noone
Sinan Ünel

2005-2007
Lydia Diamond
Rebekah Maggor
John Shea
Kate Snodgrass

2007-2009
Kirsten Greenidge
Jacqui Parker
Ken Urban
Joyce Van Dyke