Kenneth Lonergan, Annie Baker, Will Eno, Katori Hall & Regina Taylor Named 'Residency Five' Playwrights at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre Company is launching a new playwright initiative dubbed “Residency Five,” which will take shape in the company’s new off-Broadway home, opening in February 2012. Annie Baker, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Kenneth Lonergan and Regina Taylor are the inaugural writers for the series, which guarantees each of them three world premiere productions over the course of their five-year residency.

Designed to enable a diverse community of playwrights to build bodies of work, Residency Five also includes what a news release calls “a significant cash award, full health benefits, a stipend to attend theatre, access to Signature’s resources and staff, and like all of Signature’s playwrights, a place at the center of the artistic process.”

Baker’s plays include Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens and Body Awareness. Eno is the author of Middletown, Thom Pain (based on nothing) and other plays. Hall’s The Mountaintop will begin Broadway previews on September 22. Lonergan is the author of This Is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery, Lobby Hero and The Starry Messenger. Taylor’s plays include Oo-Bla-Dee, Drowning Crow and Crowns.

Signature will launch its new home, the Signature Center with a season devoted to the works of Athol Fugard, who received a 2011 Tony Award for lifetime achievement.