It takes a village to develop a play from a seed of thought to a fully realized production. We are the proud recipients of numerous awards and distinctions for our New Work Program, and are honored to have had past Seattle Rep commissions and New Work Program alumni go on to future successes in theater and beyond.
Modern Other Season & New Work
Sarah Burgess
Dry Powder: Workshop, Off-Broadway 2016, Seattle Rep 2016/17 Season
Dry Powder was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2016. The Off-Broadway production at The Public Theater featured an all-star cast of Claire Danes, John Krasinski, and Hank Azaria.
Kate Hamill
Kate Hamill has been one of the top ten most produced playwrights in the country for three seasons (2017-2020), with two of her plays being in the top ten most produced plays of their seasons. She was named Playwright of the Year in 2017 by The Wall Street Journal.
Pride & Prejudice: 2017 Workshop, Seattle Rep 2017/18 Season, Off-Broadway 2017
Pride & Prejudice was one of the top 10 most produced plays in the country during the 2018/19 season. It played Off-Broadway at Primary Stages in 2017, where it was extended 3 times.
The Scarlett Letter: 2019 Workshop
Justin Huertas
Lizard Boy: 2010 Commission, Seattle Rep 2014/15 Season. Lizard Boy has been subsequently produced around the country and made its Off-Broadway debut in 2022.
Lydia and the Troll: 2015 commission; 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 workshops; Seattle Rep 2022/23 Season
Qui Nguyen
Poor Yella Rednecks: 2017 Workshop, 2023 A.C.T. San Francisco, 2023 Off-Broadway
Lisa Peterson & Denis O’Hare
An Iliad: First workshop and reading, Seattle Rep 2009/10 Season (World Premiere), Off-Broadway 2012
Robert Schenkkan
Robert Schenkkan won the Pulitzer Prize for The Kentucky Cycle and the Tony Award for Best Play for All The Way. His work has premiered in theaters across Seattle including the Rep, Seattle Children’s Theatre, and Intiman. He also writes for film, and his films The Quiet American and Hacksaw Ridge were nominated for Oscars.
All The Way: New Play Festival 2013, Seattle Rep 2014/15 Season, Broadway 2014
All The Way won the Tony, Drama Desk Award, Critics’ Circle Award, and Drama League Award for Best/Outstanding Play in 2014. It was also adapted into a TV film by HBO starring Bryan Cranston, who also led the Broadway production.
The Great Society: Seattle Rep commission, New Play Festival 2013, Seattle Rep 2014/15 Season, Broadway 2019
Anne Washburn
Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play: 2012 Workshop, 2013 Off-Broadway
Mr. Burns was one of the top 10 most produced plays of the 2015/16 season nationally. The Off-Broadway production at Playwrights Horizons was nominated for a Drama League Award in 2014 for Outstanding Production.
Cheryl L. West
Cheryl L. West is Seattle Rep's most-produced living playwright. Plays produced: Holiday Heart (1994), Play On! (1998), Jar the Floor (2000), Birdie Blue (2007), Pullman Porter Blues (Commission, Workshop, 2012/13 Season), Shout Sister Shout! (2019), Fannie: The Life and Music of Fannie Lou Hamer (2021 - Co-Commission with Goodman Theater).
Anna Ziegler
The Great Moment: Seattle Rep Commission, Workshop 2018, Seattle Rep 2019/20 Season (World Premiere)
Vintage Other Season & New Work
1977: Renowned playwrights Tom Stoppard and Athol Fugard were part of the first New Play Festival at Seattle Rep.
1980s: Held the first staged reading of Arthur Miller’s The American Clock, directed by Daniel Sullivan.
1984: Did the first reading of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner, starring Lily Tomin, as well as helped with staging ahead of the world premiere. It went on to Broadway and was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics’ Circle Awards. It was also made into a film in 1991, starring Tomlin.
2003: Held the world premiere of Beauty of the Father by Nilo Cruz as part of Seattle Rep’s “Hot Type” Festival. Cruz won the Pulitzer that year for Anna in the Tropics, and became the first Latino to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Honors for the New Work Program
2020 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker's Bruce
2016 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for Karen Hartman’s Roz and Ray
2014 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for Laura Schellhardt’s The Comparables
Samuel D. Hunter’s A Great Wilderness selected to represent the best of American theatre at the Kennedy Center International Theater Festival in March 2014.
Winner! 2013 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award for Creating an “Artistic City”
“The Rep has commissioned, workshopped, and/or premiered works by Seattle writers like Cheryl L. West, Robert Schenkkan, Justin Huertas and Stephanie Timm. That’s how the Rep honors local theatre artists, by putting them to work, and putting that work on stage.”
–CityArts
Winner! 2013 Seattle Met Magazine Light a Fire Award for “Nurturing Creativity”
“Seattle Repertory Theatre [...] is focused more than ever on cultivating local talent.”
–Seattle Met
2013 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for Elizabeth Heffron’s Bo-Nita
2012 Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award for Cheryl L. West’s Pullman Porter Blue