The commissioning program at Marin Theatre Company encourages the creation of new work from a diverse group of passionate playwrights to be developed for our main stage and educational programs. MTC commissions original plays from writers in whose work we have a committed interest and whose voice speaks to our mission and our community. Current artists under commission include Thomas Bradshaw, Lauren Gunderson and Amelia Roper. Past artists under commission include Thomas Bradshaw, Carson Kreitzer, Tommy Shepard & Dan Wolf, and Steve Yockey.
Untitled Trojan Women Adaptation
Lauren Gunderson reimagines Euripides' TROJAN WOMEN as an exploration of contemporary sex trafficking. Heartfelt and layered with live music, Gunderson's play focuses on the young women themselves - their suffering, but also their dreams, abilities, and lives after slavery.
Lauren Gunderson is the most produced living playwright in America of 2016, winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Co. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned and premiered at companies across the US including South Cost Rep (Emilie, Silent Sky), Marin Theatre Co (I and You), The Denver Center (The Book of Will), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), San Francisco Playhouse (Bauer), and many more. Her work is published at Playscripts, Dramatists, and Samuel French (Emilie). Her children's book “Blast Off To The Moon! Dr. Wonderful and Her Dog" comes out next May. LaurenGunderson.com and @LalaTellsAStory.
Untitled Alice in Wonderland Play
Amelia Roper is a Brooklyn playwright from Australia and a recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama. She is also currently writing for Yale Rep., Soho Rep.’s Writer/ Director Lab, Berkeley Rep., Playwrights Realm, and The Rose. Her work has been produced by the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival, 2014, Crowded Fire Theatre in San Francisco, 2014 and in Australia at St Martins Youth Arts Centre, 2008, the Victorian Arts Centre, 2009, FortyFortyHome, 2010. Her plays have been developed by the Old Vic in London, Berkeley Rep.’s Ground Floor, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, ATC in Chicago, NNPN at the Kennedy Center, Circle X in Los Angeles, Colt Coeur in NYC, Melbourne Theatre Company in Australia and the Театр Центр драматургии и режиссуры in Russia.
Awards include the Cheryl Crawford Scholarship, Yale, the Howard Stein Scholarship, Yale, two Ian Potter Cultural Awards, two Australia Council for the Arts grants, a Dame Joan Sutherland Cultural Trust Award from the American Australian Association and the St Martins Emerging Playwrights’ Award ’07. Amelia is a MacDowell fellow and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. For most of her twenties, Amelia worked professionally as a stagehand and lighting designer for Australian and visiting European theatre companies, contemporary dance, circus and arts festivals.
“brilliant comedy” – The Age, Melbourne
“a rumination on feminism and orgasms is one of the funniest lines in a consistently funny show” — San Francisco Chronicle
“very tidy and very crafty, with excellent structure, but with hints of something mischievous (which usually means real, bleeding talent)…definitely a name to watch.” – Guerrilla Semiotics