Meet the 2016-17 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting

Welcome to the 2016-17 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting Andrew Rosendorf and Rhiana Yazzie!

The McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting awards two Minnesota-based playwrights a $25,000 stipend, $2,500 to support play development and other professional expenses, and $1,400 in travel funds.  Recent recipients include Aditi Brennan Kapil, Basil Kreimendahl, Carson Kreitzer, Harrison David Rivers, and Joe Waechter. Fellow are chosen by independent panels. The 2016-17 McKnight Fellows in Playwriting are:

• Andrew Rosendorf, a 2015-16 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center whose plays include Cane, Brilliant Corners, and Tranquil, which will have its world premiere with Luna Stage in April 2017. 

• Rhiana Yazzie, a two-time Jerome Fellow and previous Playwrights’ Center Core Writer who is under commission by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater for American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle. Yazzie created New Native Theatre in 2009, where she serves as Artistic Director.

(See also: 2016-17 McKnight National Residency and Commission announcement)

ANDREW ROSENDORF

Andrew Rosendorf’s work has been produced or developed at La Jolla, MCC, the National New Play Network, American Theater Company, City Theatre, Geva Theatre, Luna Stage, Actor’s Express, Palm Beach Dramaworks, UglyRhino, and Tofte Lake Center. Andrew is an alum of terraNOVA Collective’s Groundbreakers Playwrights Group and NNPN’s Playwright-in-Residence program, and has been a VCCA and MacDowell Colony Fellow. He is currently a 2015-2016 Jerome Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center. M.F.A.: The New School for Drama, Playwriting. www.andrewrosendorf.com

RHIANA YAZZIE

Rhiana Yazzie is a Navajo playwright, producer, director, and actor based in Minnesota. She is a two-time Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow (2010-11 and 2006-07) and was a Playwrights’ Center Core Writer for three years. She was a playwright in residence at the William Inge Center in Independence, Kansas, Fall 2014. She’s been co-commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater for American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle. Notable TYA plays include Chile Pod (La Jolla Playhouse) and Wild Horses (Bonderman National Theatre for Youth Symposium and the Kennedy Center’s New Visions/New Voices). She created New Native Theatre in 2009, a company based in the Twin Cities with a new way of looking at, thinking about, and staging Native American stories (newnativetheatre.org). She holds a Masters of Professional Writing from the University of Southern California where she produced lectures and concerts by Madeleine Albright, Herbie Hancock, Spaulding Grey, and Stephen Hawking among others.