The Tears of La Llorona; A Border zarzuela by Celeste Moreno, Bethany Brinton and  Crystal Manich; NEXT Festival 2023

A $20,000 commission to support the creation and development of new musical theatre projects by BIPOC artists and women artists.

In addition to $20,000 (to be shared if awarded to a creative team), each project will receive creative and developmental support over an 18-month period, including two developmental workshops of at least 50 hours.

 Application Deadline: January 15th, 2024

 To Apply:

Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Generation Commission is designed to support the early, generative stages of creation. Applications are welcomed from creative teams as well as individual artists. Creative teams must be made of at least 50% BIPOC artists or women artists to be eligible. Applicants may pitch a specific idea for a new musical or play with music as part of their application, but a pre-existing idea is not required. Artists will be selected based primarily on their extant body of work.

Please submit the following materials to Director of New Work, Elissa Adams at submissions@latteda.org by January 15, 2024

  • Resume of the artist or creative team members

  • Artistic Statement (500 - 1000 words) addressing who you are as an artist, how you work or work together as a team, what kinds of stories you like to tell

  • 3 – 5 work samples (For composers and lyricists: Each sample should be one complete song. MP3 format is encouraged. For book writers/librettists: Each sample should be a 10-page excerpt from a script or book of a musical)

Timeline:

  • Application Deadline—January 15, 2024

  • Commission Announcement – March 15, 2024

  • Introductory Visit to Theater Latte Da and Story Discussion—April/May 2024

  • First Draft Deadline—October 2024

  • Developmental Workshops- October 2024 – June 2026 (dates TBD in collaboration with the artist(s))

“Theater Latte Da’s commitment to nurturing new work is rooted in our desire to help create a canon of musical theatre works that reflect the demographics and the diversity of our country and to produce work that shares with our audiences the aesthetics and the perspectives of a multiplicity of voices.  It’s clear to us that, if that is our goal, we need create more pathways for women and artists of color. The Next Generation Commission is designed to seek out those voices and provide them with the support necessary for their talents to be recognized and nurtured and their stories to be told”
— Peter Rothstein, Artistic Director

NOTE: Theater Latté Da will have right of first refusal for the World Premiere of the commissioned work. Partnerships with other producing theaters and/or independent producers will be welcomed.  Creative teams will have the right to apply for and participate in other developmental workshops and residencies during the course of development at Latté Da.