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Applications Open for Candela’s
Second Annual Playwrights Summer Fellowship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (New York, NY) - Candela is thrilled to announce the opening of applications for its second annual Playwrights Summer Fellowship program, formerly known as the Playwrights Summer Jam. The program is free to participants thanks to donations and sponsorships. It will be held at the prestigious Dramatists Guild of America’s Mary Rodgers Room on July 14-19 this year.

Candela is a new initiative founded by playwright and college professor Darrel Alejandro Holnes. The name Candela symbolizes the program's dedication to lighting the way to graduate-level theater education for emerging playwrights, book writers, and lyricists with Latin American and Caribbean heritage who are over 21.

Last year's inaugural program was launched under the guidance of Holnes and his program partners, including the Dramatists Guild of America, which continues to support the program this year. Past faculty included luminaries such as Tony Award-winning playwrights Dominique Morisseau (AIN’T TOO PROUD), Quiara Alegría Hudes (IN THE HEIGHTS), and Pulitzer finalist Kristoffer Diaz (HELL’S KITCHEN). This summer’s program will be tailored to uplifting musical theatre book writers and lyricists.

This year's Playwrights Summer Fellowship, co-sponsored by the Latinx Theater Commons, New York City Center, Medgar Evers College, and others, promises a lineup of world-renowned educators and mentors, including Diaz, who will be a returning faculty member, and Michael R. Jackson (A STRANGE LOOP), who will be new to the roster. Scholar and multi-hyphenate theatermaker Dr. Daphnie Sicre joins this year’s producing team.

Teaching in NYU's Gallatin Summer Theater Lab and attending programs like the now-defunct Lincoln Center Director's Lab, Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference inspired Holnes to create this program, which gives back to his community exactly what they gave him. This year’s program will build on Holnes’ cohort-fostering curricular design, culturally responsive pedagogy, instructional learning, and unique blend of activities, such as viewing Broadway and/or Off-Broadway shows, visiting The Museum of Broadway, and learning from The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Reflecting on his journey, Holnes remarked, "This program is an homage to educators like Toi Derricotte, Cornelius Eady, Michael Dinwiddie, and dramaturgs like Anne Cattaneo, whose programs helped shape me into the playwright and educator I am today. It's my mission to give back everything I've received from this country to other writers who need it, too. It's why I created the Greater Good Theater Initiative, and it's why I work in public education as a college professor - education is the great equalizer; it's the ultimate seat at the table. And dramatists from our communities, like any other, deserve seats at the table. I can’t yet get everyone a free ride to the top MFA programs in the country, but I can do my part to level the playing field. That’s what this is." Sicre added, “helping produce this summer program is the best way to grant access to Latine theater makers in the field who haven’t been given the opportunity to learn how to write and produce musicals.”

Candela’s Summer Playwrights Fellowship is an unparalleled opportunity for emerging playwrights of Latin American and Caribbean heritage to learn from the industry's best and develop their craft in a supportive and inclusive environment. Last year’s fellows were Peggy Robles-Alvarado, Tanya Perez, Phillip Burke, Daniela Thome, Adrian Costa, Jaymes Sanchez, Andrew Aaron Valdez, Nilsa Reyna, Diego Lanao, and Rebbekah Vega-Romero. The inaugural fellows went on to present work in Sol Project’s Sol Fest last year and recently formed a collective called Diez, which won a $10,000 grant from NALAC.

Applications for this summer’s program, link here, are open now and close June 1st at THIS LINK. For more information, interview requests, or comments, please visit candelafellows.com

Contact: dah17@nyu.edu