About the Fellowship
Statement of Purpose
The PONY Fellowship was founded in effort to provide as comprehensive support as possible to an emerging playwright. The award provides assistance in 3 areas of an emerging playwright’s life:
Housing
- 1 year of free housing in a 1-bedroom doorman apartment in the heart of the theater district in New York City. Visit www.stribling.com/Thorndale/ to view the apartment.
Living Expense
- A $2,000 per month stipend for 12 months
Artistic Support
- Active membership at the LARK Play Development Center which includes a seat in the renowned Playwright's Workshop, led by award-winning playwright Arthur Kopit
The goal of the PONY Fellowship is simply to encourage
the playwright to create new work.
Expectations of the Fellow
* The selected Fellow must commit to living for 12 months in the PONY Fellowship apartment. To insure that the selected fellow gets the maximum benefit of the Fellowship, applicants must not be committed to out-of-town residencies for more than 2 weeks at a time and for more than 1 month total, during the PONY 12-month fellowship period. The apartment can be shared with a spouse or significant other and may not be subletted.
* The selected Fellow is expected to become an active member of the LARK community, which includes:
1. Attend at least 3 LARK events a month
2. Participate in the Playwrights’ Workshop
The Playwrights’ Workshop is chiefly comprised of two components:
- Community Sessions: There are 12 Monday night Community Sessions distributed throughout the residency period from October to April. These sessions bring Workshop Fellows together with Lark actors and directors to share new work, and are facilitated by Arthur Kopit and at least one other member of the Playwright Advisory Committee. Work to be shared at Community Sessions may be in the form of brand-new fragments that are “hot-off-the-press” or sections of longer plays in development.
- Roundtable Program: To provide playwrights with opportunities to work on larger sections of work in smaller groups, the Lark has a Roundtable Program where writers have the opportunity to hear completed drafts of plays with actors followed by an in-depth discussion with actors, directors and artistic leaders.
3. Articulate writing goals to LARK artistic leadership at the beginning of the fellowship, and meet monthly to discuss those goals and progress on new material. Completion of an interim report (after 6 months) and a final report (after 12 months) that describes how the goals were met is also required.
- The selected Fellow will be required to begin residency in the PONY apartment and begin active participation in the LARK community on October 1, 2009.
