Alumni Updates

Congratulations to SPACE alum for their work on shows nominated for 2024 Tony awards.

Adam Rapp (Institutional Residency ‘12, Film Lab ‘15) - Nominated for Book of a Musical for “The Outsiders” which is nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 2024 including Best Musical.

Danya Taymor (Institutional ‘13, Creative Residency ‘14) nominated for Director of a Musical for “The Outsiders” which is nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 2024 including Best Musical.

Shaina Taub (Creative Residency ‘15, The Working Farm ‘17) nominated for multiple awards for her musical “Suffs”—she wrote the book, score, and lyrics and plays Alice Paul in the musical. “Suffs” is nominated for six Tonys including Best Musical, Original Score, and Book of a Musical.

Lakisha May (SPACE Board Co-Vice Chair) appeared in Best Play nominated “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”

Joshua Harmon (Creative Residency ‘12) playwright of “Prayers for the French Republic” nominated for Best Play.

Bekah Brunstetter (Creative Residency ‘10, ‘11, ‘16) nominated for Book of a Musical for her writing on “The Notebook”.

William Jackson Harper (Institutional Residency ‘14) nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for “Uncle Vanya”.

Lila Neugebauer (Institutional Residency ‘12, Creative Residency ‘13) nominated for Best Director for “Appropriate”

2024 Institutional Resident company, Roundabout Theater, was part of the development of Best Original Score nominee “Days of Wine and Roses”

SPACE friends, Playwrights Horizons, were part of the development Best Play nominee “Stereophonic”.

Ben Ferguson (Creative Residency ‘21) nominated several times as part of PigPen Theatre Co. for their work on the music for “Water for Elephants”

• Shaina Taub's (Creative Residency '15, The Working Farm '17) Suffs The Musical is now open on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. 

• Shayan Lotfi's (Creative Residency '19, Working Farm '21, Creative Residency '22) What Became of Us is having it's world-premiere and Off-Broadway debut with Atlantic Theater Company in May under the direction of Jennifer Chang. Casting includes Tony Award winner BD Wong (M. Butterfly), Emmy Award winner Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Saddam, House of Sand and Fog), and Emmy and Tony winner Tony Shalhoub (Monk, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).

David Cote (Creative Residency ‘19) is having a new production of his opera Blind Injustice presented by Peak Performances at the Alexander Kasser Theater on February 16 & 18. The performance will be captured by All Arts for later broadcast.

Deb Margolin’s (Creative Residency ‘18 & ‘21) new play, This is Not a Time of Peace, opens February 20th on Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street. It runs through March 16th; it is a play about unrest, in a marriage, in a country, and in the mind of an elderly man tortured by his memories of the McCarthy era.

Kate Douglas’s (Creative Residency 2018, Institutional Residency 2018) play The Apiary is having its world premiere at Second Stage directed by Kate Whoriskey. The play runs January 31 - March 3

Anu Valia’s (Film Lab Residency 2017) first feature film, We Strangers, will be premiering at SXSW in March.

Sarah Gancher’s (Family Residency ‘19; Creative Residency ‘14, ‘15) play Russian Troll Farm is playing at the Vineyard Theatre starting January 25. Russian Troll Farm was supported by a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Heather Christian (Working Farm ‘21; Creative Residency ‘19) is having the world premiere of Terce: a Practical Breviary at Irondale with HERE Arts Center starting January 10.

Rachel Bonds (Working Farm ‘14; Creative Residency ‘13, ‘15, ‘19) is having the world premiere of Jonah at Roundabout Theatre Company starting January 11, directed by Danya Taymor (Creative Residency ‘14)

Jen Silverman (Working Farm ‘14, Creative Residency ‘15/’17), Dane Laffrey (Institutional Residency ‘13) and Mike Donahue (Institutional Residency ‘11) are premiering their new play Highway Patrol at the Goodman Theatre Jan. 20 - Feb. 18. Emmy Award-winner Dana Delany (China Beach, Desperate Housewives) stars in this new thriller—part love story, part ghost story—crafted from hundreds of tweets, DMs, and interviews.

Karolina Letunova (Family Residency '22) was awarded a 2023-2024 California Arts Council Emerging Artist Fellowship. Her stories appeared in print issues of AGNI and The Kenyon Review.Item description

Pooja Makhijani (Creative Residency ‘19, Family Residency ‘18) signed a two-book deal for two picture books scheduled for publication in 2025.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s (Working Farm ‘13; Creative Residency ‘15) play Appropriate is playing on Broadway at the Hayes Theater, produced by Second Stage Theater and directed by Lila Neugebauer (Creative Residency ‘13).

Joshua Harmon (Creative Residency ‘12) is having the Broadway premiere of Prayer for the French Republic opening December 19 presented by Manhattan Theatre Club.

Marco Antonio Rodriguez (Creative Residency ‘23) is having a staged reading of his play Campo with the People’s Theater Project at the Allanza Dominicana Cultural Center on December 8.

Jamila Woods’ (Creative Residency ‘23; BLKSPACE ‘22) album Water Made Us is out now via Jagjaguwar Records.

Jen Silverman (Working Farm ‘14; Creative Residency ‘15, ‘17) is having the world premiere of Spain at Second Stage Theater starting November 8.

Issac Gómez (Working Farm ‘22) is having the world premiere of RADICAL or, are you gonna miss me at IAMA Theatre starting November 11.

Jacob Yandura (Institutional Residency ‘21), and Rebekah Greer Melocik’s (Institutional Residency ‘21) musical How to Dance in Ohio will premiere on Broadway on November 15th directed by Sammi Cannold (Institutional Residency ‘21). How to Dance in Ohio was supported by a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

​​Ikechukwu Ufomadu (Creative Residency ‘18; Season Extension ‘19) is having the world premiere of Amusements at Playwrights Horizons starting November 8.

Milo Cramer (Institutional Residency ‘17, ‘19) is having the New York premiere of School Pictures at Playwrights Horizons directed by Morgan Green (Creative Residency ‘23) starting November 8.

Salty Brine (Creative Residency ‘22) is performing He’s So Unusual: The Cyndi Lauper Show at Joe’s Pub November 8 - 10. He’s So Unusual was supported by a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Lu Chekowsky (Creative Residency ‘21) will be taking part in an evening of storytelling on caregiving at Symphony Space on November 4 and has been named a NYSCA/NYFA Fellow in Nonfiction Literature.

Nikhil Mahapatra (Creative Residency ‘21) was named a member of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers Group.

Riley Mulherkar (Creative Residency '18, '23) announced the upcoming release of his album Riley coming out February 16, 2024. The first single is named after Ryder Farm and is out now. Riley was developed with the support of a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Vichet Chum’s (Working Farm ‘19; Creative Residency ‘21) novel Kween will be released on October 3 through Quill Tree Books.

Jess Barbagallo (Creative Residency ‘23) is directing the world premiere of Becca Blackwell’s and Amanda Duarte’s play Snatch Adams & Tainty McCracken Present: It’s That Time of the Month at Soho Rep.

LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs (Creative Residency ‘23) will be presenting a reading at 92Y on October 5.

John J. Caswell Jr. (Creative Residency ‘18) is having the world premiere of Scene Partners starting October 26 at the Vineyard Theatre.

Brittany K. Allen (Creative Residency ‘17) is having the world premiere of Redwood at Ensemble Studio Theatre starting October 18.

Multiple SPACE alumni including Anne Washburn (Working Farm ‘18), David Greenspan (Working Farm ‘19,), Jerry Leiblich (Creative Residency ‘18), and Jess Barbagallo (Creative Residency ‘23) are taking part in the Prelude Festival running from October 7 - 19 at the Segal Center and other venues. Jerry Leiblich’s piece Fecund Error was supported by a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Sanaz Toossi’s (Creative Residency ‘23) play Wish You Were Here is playing at Yale Repertory Theatre starting October 5.

Sarah Ruhl’s (Family Residency ‘16) Becky Nurse of Salem runs September 21 - November 10 at Trinity Rep in Providence.

Martyna Majok’s (Creative Residency ‘15) play Sanctuary City is running at Steppenwolf Theatre Company starting September 14.

Eliza Bent’s (Working Farm ‘16; Creative Residency ‘17, ‘19, ‘21; Season Extension ‘17) Penguin in Your Ear is running at The Brick from September 14 - September 17 directed by Jess Barbagallo (Creative Residency ‘23)

Nathan Alan Davis (Institutional Residency ‘21 with Roundabout Theatre Company) is having the world premiere of The Refuge Plays at Roundabout Theatre Company starting September 14.

Zarina Shea (Working Farm ‘21) is having the world premiere of Let’s Call Her Patty at Lincoln Center Theater starting July 15, directed by Margot Bordelon (Creative Residency ‘15).

Catherine Cohen (Creative Residency ‘19) and ​​Ikechukwu Ufomadu (Creative Residency ‘18; Season Extension ‘19) will be in residence at Joe’s Pub over the month of June.

Abe Koogler (Creative Residency ‘17) is having the world premiere of Deep Blue Sound at Clubbed Thumb starting June 5.

Ben Ferguson (Creative Residency ‘21) and PigPen Theatre Co. are having the world premiere of Water For Elephants at the Alliance Theatre starting June 7.

Kanishk Pandey (Greenhouse ‘22) is having a reading of his play Gardens @ Glennshead with Clubbed Thumb on June 9.

Eliza Bent (Working Farm ‘16; Creative Residency ‘17, ‘19, ‘21; Season Extension ‘17) is presenting a work in stand-up-comedy process Penguin In Your Ear as part of Project Y Theatre’s Women in Theater Festival on June 10.

Sanaz Toossi (Creative Residency ‘23, Institutional Residency ‘21 with Roundabout Theatre Company) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Ava Chin (Family Residency ‘19) released her book Mott Street (A Chinese American Family's Story Of Exclusion And Homecoming) through Penguin Random House. This project was supported by a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Monet Hurst Mendoza (Creative Residency ‘17, ‘18; Season Extension ‘19) had the world premiere of Torera at the Alley Theatre in Houston starting May 12. Torera was supported by a residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Working Farm ‘13; Creative Residency ‘15) had the world premiere of The Comeuppance at Signature Theatre starting May 16.

Dave Harris (Working Farm ‘18) had the world premiere of Incendiary at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company starting May 29, 2023.

John J. Caswell Jr. (Creative Residency ‘18) had the world premiere of Wet Brain at Playwrights Horizons starting May 17, 2023.

Michael Shayan (Creative Residency ‘22 with Audible) had the world premiere of Avaaz at South Coast Repertory Theatre starting April 29.

Jenny Koons (Creative Residency ‘14, ‘22) is directing the world premiere of Jillian Walker’s The Whitney Album at Soho Rep starting May 24.

Ruth Tang (Institutional Residency ‘21 with Tom Kirdahy Productions) had the world premiere of Work Hard Have Fun Make History at Clubbed Thumb starting May 18, directed by Caitlin Sullivan (Creative Residency ‘21).

Nia Akilah Robinson (Greenhouse ‘22) had a reading of a new play as part of EST Youngblood’s Bloodworks Festival on May 17.