20x30: Reimagining the Anthropocene
An ambitious new Seattle Rep commissioning initiative engaging 20 playwrights between now and 2030 to each write a play inspired by life in our moment.
Anthropocene is a term that suggests we have entered a new geological age where human activity is the dominant force shaping our environment. This commissioning project’s goal is to engage a diverse group of theater artists around the idea of the Anthropocene during what promises to be a pivotal and transformational decade for our nation and our world. What does this moment in time mean for each of us, and how is our experience differentiated by—or united across—race, culture, country, class, or generation?
Hear more from Artistic Director Braden Abraham about his thoughts behind the 20x30 program.
Seattle Rep recently announced the second round of 20x30 commissions which will include work by playwrights Amy Freed, Julia Izumi, and Benjamin Benne. They will be joining playwrights Nathan Alan Davis, Larissa FastHorse, Zora Howard, Sylvia Khoury, and Mary Kathryn Nagle.
Meet the Playwrights
20x30 In the News
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Zora Howard, Pulitzer Prize for Drama Finalist
READ"Recognizing work for the 2020 calendar year, this year's rules allowed full-length dramatic works that had scheduled premieres postponed or canceled—as well as shows that premiered virtually or outside—to be considered eligible... Zora Howard's Stew (presented in early 2020 by Page 73) and Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley's Circle Jerk (which premiered virtually in October) were announced as finalists."
Read more in Playbill.
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Changing the Story, in Court and Onstage
READ"Nagle believes that restoring tribal sovereignty depends on beating back degrading stereotypes that prop up discriminatory legal frameworks, and that the theatre is one place where that fight needs to happen."
Read more about 20x30 playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle's current work as both an attorney and playwright in The New Yorker.
Photo by Gabriella Demczuk for The New Yorker
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Sylvia Khoury Wins 2021 Whiting Award in Drama
READ"In commenting on Sylvia Khoury’s work, including Selling Kabul, The Place Women Go, and Against the Hillside, the judges noted the plays' 'focus on the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan; evoking grand geopolitical drama through simple human gesture,' and praised the way the plays 'break down barriers between human beings, revealing the powerful lines of connection that exist and persist.'"
Read more about the 2021 Whiting Award winners in American Theatre Magazine.
Photo by Yael Nov
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Nathan Alan Davis wins 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize
READ"I tend to write plays that deal with things that I can't reconcile, and I can't reconcile the injustices of history."
20x30 playwright Nathan Alan Davis has been named recipient of a 2021 Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction, one of the world’s most significant and generous literary prizes. Hear from Nathan in a video interview with Windham-Campbell, and read more below in a release from Princeton University.
Photo by Benjamin Kanes / Windham-Campbell
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Seattle Rep’s Ambitious Plan
READ"Despite a year in which theaters have gone dark and whole seasons have been canceled due to the pandemic, Seattle Rep is embarking on an ambitious undertaking: three commission projects that will support the development of over 20 new plays over the next decade — more than the Rep has ever commissioned all at once."
Read The Seattle Times' feature on our new commissioning initiatives: 20x30, New Directions, and Public Works commission.
Playwright Zora Howard; Photo by Rashaad Ernesto Green
More Commissions
Learn about our New Directions director commissions and upcoming Public Works production commission.