John Clinton Eisner News Today

The organization was founded in 1994 as a counterpoint to commercially driven theatre and a platform for underrepresented voices.

Erika Dickerson-Despenza and Emily Mann A free, immersive theatrical installation based on the pandemic-inspired dreams of 12 American playwrights debuts May 13 at Brookfield Place in downtown NYC. A Dozen Dreams features works by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Emily Mann, Sam Chanse, Martyna Majok, Mona Mansour, Rehana Mirza, Ellen McLaughlin, Liza Jessie Peterson, Ren Dara Santiago, Caridad Svich, Lucy Thurber, and Andrea Thome. Singer Kecia Lewis is also featured in the dream of ...

The 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.S. playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza for her play about the Flint, Michigan water crisis, cullad wattah. Awarded annually since 1977, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the largest and oldest international prize honoring Women+ playwrights. On April 7, a livestream of the award ceremony honored Dickerson-Despenza and the other 9 Finalists. Award-winning star of stage and screen, and one of this years Blackburn Prize Judges, Paapa Essi...

(© Allison Stock) May Adrales has been named artistic director of the Lark, the international lay development laboratory dedicated to amplifying the voices of playwrights. Founding artistic director John Clinton Eisner recently stepped down. Adrales has a long history with the Lark, first joining the organization the New Generations Future Leaders Fellowship. In 2008, she became the director of artistic programs, creating the Monthly Meeting of the Minds, Winter Writers Retreat, and Playground...

May Adrales Stage auteur May Adrales has been selected as The Lark’s new artistic director, with the announcement arriving less than a week after John Clinton Eisner shared his retirement from the Off-Broadway company. Adrales returns to The Lark after nearly a decade at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, which she joined as a board member in 2012 and became associate artistic director of in 2017. Prior to Milwaukee Rep, Adrales served as The Lark’s director of artistic pro...

The Lark, an international play development laboratory dedicated to amplifying the voices of playwrights, announces that founder John Clinton Eisner is retiring after 27 years as Artistic Director, with the intent to hand over leadership to a new generation of theatrical talents.