Apply for our Artists in Residency ​Playwriting Program!
- Uptown NYC -

What is this residency?

​The Skeleton Rep(resents) Artists in Residency program is for 3 individuals who want to spend at least three months meeting regularly as a group to dive into playwriting structure as inspired by Bernard Grebanier and reimagined by Ria T. DiLullo for the 21st century.  With TSR’s mission to develop new works that explore modern myth, we encounter many great ideas that lack the structure the idea needs to support its potential as a play. The goal of teaching Grebanier is to provide a flexible armature that plays can stretch their characters and action over, to give it movement that keeps the audience engaged and comprehending throughout the duration of the performance. To participate, you can be an experienced playwright or new to the craft. However, if you are currently pursuing any degree, you are not eligible for this residency.  Additionally, this year’s residency is solely for uptown Manhattan/southern Bronx residents.

Want more information?

The submission window is open until 8pm EST on 5/16.

Cohort II

Cohort I

The Skeleton Rep(resents) the World Premiere of
Georgia and the Butch:
Adapted from Maria Chabot & Georgia O'Keeffe Correspondence, 1941-1949

Ancient monuments are vanishing, one by one. Individually attempting to uncover the mystery is news reporter Nigel Anderson Cole and a 20-something spiritualist named Abby. “The Great Vanishing: Part IV” is a pandemic-era mystery noir that follows the lives of individuals experiencing strange events, from body takeovers to phone calls from the dead. 

Skeleton Rep's first film is on the festival circuit!
​If you're in NYC, join us for our screening of TGV IV with the Manhattan Film Festival on June 27th at 6pm.

At two creative persons mixers hosted by Ria T. DiLullo and Sam Given last month, Ria took a moment to offer some remarks on the importance of the indie theater scene and bringing it closer together. We would now like to share those remarks with you. You can either view the footage from the event (above) or give it a read (below).

Introducing Cohort 2 of TSR's Artists in Residency Program

Meet the Artists

Andrew Coopman (they/he+) is a director-choreographer and playwright of Middle Eastern descent and currently works at The Drama League as their Artistic Associate. A Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellowship Recipient, Andrew’s work as a director and choreographer has been seen on stages in Chicago, Dallas, Milwaukee, Ithaca, New York City, and more. Highlight Director-Choreigrapher Credits include: The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System (TWUSA), The Apollo of Bellac (Hangar Theatre), Head Over Heels (Lakewood Playhouse), Bryony Lavery’s Frozen: A Play (Cabaret Theater), Little Women (Seattle Musical Theater), Body Awareness (The Jones Playhouse), and their devised work RE:Social/Divide (Cooperative Performance). Their original immersive experimental piece, TAROT, is currently in development with Strawdog Theatre Company in Chicago. Playwright-Director Credits include "…and then the lightning struck," a play about Bayard Rustin and his partner partner Walter Naegle, and TREESON: A New Eco-Musical. MFA Directing, University of Washington and MA, Educational Theatre, New York University – Steinhardt. Proud SDC member.   www.AndrewCoopman.com

Raina Lawrence is a director/playwright who seeks to produce art and an inventive way of storytelling that moves her audience deeply enough to improve the love and gratefulness for one’s self. Credits Include: Internship at Rattlestick Theatre for Dael Orlandersmith’s Spiritus Virgil’s Dance (Off Broadway); Shadow Puppeteer in Taste The Cloud (with Hit The Lights Company); Director for New Works at The New School "Monica, Richie and Angel"; Actor/Dramaturg/Playwright for Devised piece "Playing The Other" curated with The New School and guest artists, Dael Orlandersmith and Jim Nicola; Scenic Designer/ Actor for Devised Work "No Place" directed by Irina Kruzhilina.

Jarrett Key (b. 1990, Seale, AL) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Jarrett grew up in rural Alabama and pursued their fine art practice in NYC after graduating from Brown University (2013). They received their MFA in painting at the RISD (2020). Jarrett is represented by 1969 Gallery in New York, where they had their first solo exhibition, From the Ground, Up in March 2022. In 2023, Key completed a 40ft mural commission for HMTX Industries in Norwalk, CT. One of their hair performance paintings was also the NYC Pride Grandstand Backdrop at the 2023 Pride Parade. Jarrett has had the pleasure to work with actors, production teams, and institutions throughout NYC and New England, including The Public Theater, The Juilliard School, Brown University, and The Fruitlands Museum. Recent fine art exhibitions include Full and Pure: Body, Materiality, Gender, curated by Mara Hassan, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, TX; Wade, Friends Indeed Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Freedom Dreams, Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY; New England Triennial, deCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA; out, co-curated by Jarrett Key and Jon Key, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY; Young, Gifted and Black, The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; and This is America, Kunstraum Potsdam, Berlin, Germany. Their work was also included in Untitled Miami Beach in 2021, 2022. They were one of Forbes 30 under 30 for Art and Style 2020. Key’s work is in the collections of the the Green Family Art Foundation, HMTX Industries, New York Historical Society, The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection, the Columbus Museum, Brown University, RISD Special Collection, the Schomburg Center, the Museum of Modern Art Library, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library, among other institutions. www.jarrettkey.com

Cohort 1 is Still Going Strong

Ben Freeman's first residency play had its salon in November, "The Shape of the Entire."  Sam Given's first residency play was featured in Naked Angels 1st Mondays in December, "Flinch." Michelle Cage is well on her way to her second full draft of "Revelation Play" (working title), which we will salon later this year. Ben and Sam are currently embarking on brand new scripts. Ben, Sam, and Michelle pictured to the left on their Winter 2024 retreat to the Catskills in upstate New York.