None of the playwrights are Chicago residents, though the first one brought in, DC native Karen Zacarias, began her residency in January of 2010 and used the opportunity to rewrite The Sins of Sor Juana, which was produced at the Goodman Theatre in June and July. The other writers are New Yorker Lisa Kron and San Franciscan Amy Freed, who began their residencies in July, and New York-based playwrights Katori Hall and Charles Randolph-Wright, who join in January 2011. Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage and David Henry Hwang have also been named “project residents”—both received commissions to write a new play that Arena will produce.

David Dower, associate artistic director for Arena Stage since 2006, points out that they’re continuing a trend that has been in place at other theatres.

“What’s happened here at the Institute is that we have designed a set of programs that seem to work in their originating institutions and that have the capacity to teach the field something. This residency is based on stuff that is already happening at the Public, which has Suzan-Lori Parks as their master writer. Indiana Rep has had James Still as a playwright-in-residence for over a decade, even though he only lives there part of the time. Craig Lucas had what amounted to a residency with the Intiman while [former artistic director] Bart [Sher] was there.”

But though other theatres may have planted seeds, it’s undeniable that having so many playwrights under salary is a big departure from the usual mix of uncertain income described in “Outrageous Fortune,” where playwrights lamented the difficulty of cobbling together commissions, royalties, and teaching gigs in order to support themselves in the theatre. In addition to what is described as a “living wage,” (“They are in line with the middle manager’s salary at Arena,” says Dower), each of the playwrights receives health insurance, housing (for non-locals) when in residence, and $15,000 annually to cover costs for collaborators or other developmental expenses (such as travel and research). In addition, Arena Stage commits to fully producing at least one play by each writer during their residency. Any other work developed during their residency will be “unencumbered” by sub rights agreements, though the play commissioned and produced by Arena from each resident will have some sub rights arrangements attached.

For Arena artistic director Molly Smith, who is entering her 13^th season with Arena after serving for 19 years at the founding artistic director for Alaska’s Perseverance Theatre, economic justice is the goal. “Playwrights are workers in the theatre,” she says. “They are workers like electricians are workers in the theatre. They are workers like doctors. They are doctors of the mind and spirit.”

The funding for the Institute is courtesy of the Mellon Foundation, which also gave Steppenwolf Theatre funding to commission new work over the next two years from Chicagoan Tanya Saracho and New Yorker Lisa D’Amour (the latter’s Detroit opens Steppenwolf’s season next month), as well as two other playwrights to be named later.

But though Steppenwolf doesn’t have their Mellon playwrights on salary, they did provide inspiration for a component of the Arena Stage program. “One of the programs that we’re working on is trying to develop the First Look 101 concept here,” says Dower. Steppenwolf’s First Look Repertory 101, which has taken place in late summer in the past, will run in November this year. In addition to providing workshop productions and readings of new plays, First Look is notable for inviting audiences to join them through all stages of the play’s development—from first rehearsal to production. Arena Stage will call their program “Theater 101,” and it will be closely modeled after Steppenwolf.

Smith says, “One of the areas that we’re very interested in is continuing to ignite the audiences so that they are driven to see new work. As audiences have great experiences with new work, they are encouraged to come back again and again.” And though “Outrageous Fortune” (and Mike Daisey’s How Theater Failed America) posited that there is at least the perception that regional theatre boards are primarily interested in shiny new buildings and new work that has the potential to be a big hit in New York, Smith says, “Our board is thrilled. They love this idea.”

The resident playwrights also may attend artistic staff meetings, share input for season planning, and they will have access to workspace in the new Arena Stage Mead Center for American Theater, which opens this fall. Additionally, each playwright is paired with “new play producing fellows” who provide hands-on assistance with production aspects during the residency—and gain valuable knowledge about new-play production to use in their post-Arena careers.

For Dower and Smith, the New Play Institute’s larger goal is to break down the sense of isolation as well as economic frustration that accompanies the playwriting life. One of the corollary projects in the works is a “New Play Map”—an online clearinghouse of information about new-play development projects across America that will link together existing web content about new work, including production information, blogs, and video feeds. “It will show audiences and playwrights how robust and disseminated around the country this work is,” says Dower.

The playwrights are also given a free hand as to what they want to work on. Some, such as Zacarias, may opt to spend part of the time reworking older scripts.

“They have four or five or six different projects,” says Smith. “Comedies, dramas, one-person plays, musicals. Some are writing pieces that they’ve only had a treatment for. What we’re giving them is the ability to dream their wildest dreams. They can work on projects for which they are also working with other theatres.”

Is the Arena program something other theatres might adopt? Dower, who founded the Bay Area’s seminal new-works company, Z Space Studio in 1993, believes it is, but he hopes that the ambitious scope of the Arena Stage initiative won’t scare off others.

“The economic scale has to be within the scale of the institution,” he says. “That might lead to a whole other set of decisions. It might be hard to work with an out-of-town playwright. If the residency is going to be $12-$18,000 a year, you’re probably not looking at mid-career writers. But there are writers who could use that.” And, cautions Dower, “It can’t be people whose work you’re not already committed to producing. We didn’t do an open call. We would have been buried. We went to a small group of people we already had relationships with and asked them if they would find value in the opportunity.” He adds, “I don’t think people should or can do five [playwrights] unless they can actually support them. Do one—but just start.”

Says Smith, “Artists need what every other human being needs—food, water, places to send their kids to school, money for rent. Too many have gotten away from the idea of providing living wages to our artists in the theatre. This program brings the conversation about that into our world in a very different way. There are people who are really talking about this and recognizing that this is something that they may be able to start in their own theatre. I was stopped by a philanthropist and I said, ‘I think this recognizes a paradigm shift.’ He said, ‘This paradigm shift is how we have to treat all artists.’”