Theater Latté Da Awards NEXT Generation Commission, Invests $20,000 in the Next Generation of Women and BIPOC Music Theater Makers

Clare Fuyuko Bierman & Erika Ji

(MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL) Theater Latté Da (Justin Lucero, Artistic Director; Elisa Spencer-Kaplan, Managing Director) announces Clare Fuyuko Bierman and Erika Ji as the recipients of the 2026 NEXT Generation Commission, an opportunity designed to support the creation and development of new music theater projects by creative teams that include women artists and artists of color. Theater Latté Da received over 100 applications for this year’s $20,000 commission.

“As artists, Erika and Clare bring artistic rigor and sophisticated skill to their work along with a deep sense of curiosity, joy and innovation. We look forward to working with them to create a new piece of music theater that celebrates these qualities while also embracing the specific riches of our space, our audience and our community,” said Elissa Adams, Associate Artistic Director & Director of New Work. “I first met Erika and Clare via a pandemic-era Zoom meeting when they were students in NYU’s MFA musical theater writing program. Their spark and drive made a lasting impression. In 2024, Theater Latté Da hosted a developmental workshop of Clare, Erika and Brandy Hoang Collier’s stunning new musical Yoko’s Husband’s Killer’s Japanese Wife, Gloria. We look forward to this next step in our relationship with these artists.”

The NEXT Generation commission provides significant support to musical theater artists at the early, iterative stage of writing a new musical.  In evaluating applicants, Latté Da was looking for creative teams that center women and BIPOC artists, with a particular interest in artists eager to make Theater Latté Da a creative partner as well as an artistic home.

“We are completely ecstatic and over the moon to be the recipients of the 2026 NEXT Generation Commission,” states Bierman and Ji. “We're honored to have this chance to be part of the Twin Cities community, and we are so excited to embark on this new creative journey with Theater Latté Da.”

Furthering a tradition of developing bold new work, a highly anticipated World Premiere concludes Latté Da’s 28th Season: the new musical MY ÁNTONIA (June 3 - July 12, 2026) conceived by Jessie Austrian, Noah Brody, Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses, with music and lyrics by The Kilbanes (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominees for Weightless) and book by Noah Brody, adapted from the novel by Willa Cather. Jessie Austrian will direct the production, with music direction by Jason Hansen and choreography by Joey Miller. Casting will include Julia Diaz (NEXT Festival), Will Dusek (Scotland, PA, NEXT Festival), Em Adam Rosenberg (Latté Da debut), Sally Wingert (A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd) and Lillian Hochman (NEXT Festival).

The four-member creative team of The Kilbanes, Brody and Austrian was the first to be selected for Latté Da’s NEXT Generation commission in 2019, and the work was further developed through several Latté Da-hosted workshops and two well received presentations as part of the Summer 2024 NEXT Festival of New Musicals. It will mark the company’s eighteenth world premiere production.

ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION COMMISSION

Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Generation Commission is a cornerstone of the company’s commitment to developing bold, original music theater by historically underrepresented artists. The program awards a $20,000 commission to a creative team or individual artist whose members include at least 50% women and/or artists of color, supporting the early, generative stages of a brand-new musical or play with music. In addition to financial support, recipients receive 18 months of developmental partnership with Latté Da, including two workshops totaling a minimum of 50 hours and opportunities to collaborate with the company’s artistic leadership and community. Designed to elevate new voices and expand the musical theater canon, the NEXT Generation Commission seeks out artists with compelling bodies of work and provides the resources, space and advocacy needed to bring fresh stories to life.

Previous recipients include Jay Adana, Jessie Austrian, Bethany Birnie, Noah Brody, Kate Kilbane, Crystal Manich, Celeste Moreno, and Dan Moses.

The NEXT Generation Commission is made possible in part by The Ruth Easton Fund of the Edelstein Family Foundation, Nara Fund, and numerous generous individuals and foundations who give in support of Theater Latté Da’s NEXT new work development programs.

ABOUT CLARE FUYUKO BIERMAN

Clare Fuyuko Bierman is a writer raised in a Japanese-Jewish home in Los Angeles, CA. Bierman’s writing has been developed and supported by The Washington National Opera, The O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference, The National Alliance for Musical Theater, The Civilians, American Opera Projects, The Johnny Mercer Foundation, National Asian Arts Project, Youth Theater Northwest, and The New York Foundation for the Arts. Recent projects include Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria (with Brandy Hoang Collier and Erika Ji), the Vivace-award winning musical that was developed at Theater Latte Da and recently named a finalist for the Relentless Award. Cry, Wolf (with JL Marlor) has been performed at the Kennedy Center, Kaufman Music Center, and the War Memorial Performing Arts Center in San Francisco.

Bierman holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of San Francisco, and has worked with the visionary environmental artists, activists and educators at FutureFarmers, the Studio for Urban Projects, and the Climate Music Project. She recently completed her MFA in Musical Theater Writing at New York University and was named a finalist for the 2026 Kleban Prize in Lyrics. clarebierman.com

ABOUT ERIKA JI

Erika Ji is a cross-genre composer-storyteller who loves soaring melodies, dream worlds, and stories that challenge our preconceptions about what is true, good, or worth wanting. Her work has premiered at and been supported by Lincoln Center, the National Music Theater Conference, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Public Theater.

Works include Yoko's Husband's Killer's Japanese Wife, Gloria (with Brandy Hoang Collier and Clare Fuyuko Bierman, the Vivace Award-winning musical commissioned by the 5th Avenue Theatre and developed at the O’Neill, NAMT, BAM, and Theatre Latté Da); VISARE (with Bierman, New Voices Project Winner, Tokyo International Songwriters’ Showcase);  four; interwoven (New Music Theatre Project, DiMenna Center, Greenwich House Uncharted Series, Downtown Urban Arts Festival), and Starsong (with Andrew Strano; Off-Broadway: Rattlestick Theater, Kaufman Music Center).

Ji has been artist-in-residence at Greenwich House, Jentel, Millay, Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, VCCA, and the Wurlitzer Foundation. As a pianist, accordionist, and vocalist, she has performed on Broadway (Cabaret, Kimberly Akimbo) and national TV (CBS Sunday Morning). BS Stanford, MFA NYU. erikaji.com