The Stephen Sondheim Foundation has identified the recipients of its first round of grants: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis, Millay Arts and the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. Established under the will of the late Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist of “Company” and “Sweeney Todd,” the Sondheim Foundation offers financial support to early-career theater artists around the country by funding programs that support the development of new work.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company will use its grant to help re-launch its new play development program SCOUT. The program, which was paused following the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on Steppenwolf’s operations, held public readings and developmental workshops in support of new American plays. SCOUT will also commission an emerging playwright to draft a new work for the Steppenwolf ensemble to perform.
The Foundation has also awarded a grant to the Playwrights’ Center of Minneapolis. This will go towards funding and expanding its CORE Writer Program, which supports 23-30 playwrights each year in developing new work. Millay Arts received funding for its artist-in-residency program, while the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat will use its grant to grow its summer residency program.
The Stephen Sondheim Foundation has also helped to create the Horowitz-Sondheim Clinic at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, which provides affordable mental health care to playwrights, composers and lyricists, inspired by Sondheim’s gratitude for his psychoanalyst, Dr. Milton Horowitz.
