Funder: Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley
Due Dates (Anticipated): April 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: $10,000 commission ($6,000 at commission, $4,000 on completion), plus a reading
Summary: Supports women, trans, and non-binary playwrights over forty to create a new play in conversation with Leah Ryan’s work.
Key Information: Applicants need an ongoing playwriting practice and at least one professional production or qualifying published script.
Description
The Boost is a playwriting commission awarded by the Board of the Leah Ryan Fund and offered through the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley. It supports a woman, trans, or non-binary playwright over forty in writing a new play in conversation with a work by Leah Ryan. Writers are invited to draw freely from her themes, characters, or other aspects of her writing, rather than write a sequel.
For the second round, the board selected Ryan’s Debt, a one-act comedy about unpaid bills, endorphins, band practice, and Marvin Gaye. The commission combines financial support for developing an original script with a reading of the completed work. It is part of the Leah Ryan Fund’s mission to sustain writers facing individual challenges and systemic oppression so they can keep writing, connecting, creating, and thriving.
