For over 100 years, EAG has provided emergency financial aid and career support to New York City’s professional performing artists. We take pride in our ongoing effort to find new ways to support our vibrant performing arts community. Understanding how challenging it is for emerging theatre companies to find affordable space for creating work in NYC, we introduced the Open Stage space grant in 2017. With Open Stage, we can support theatre companies by giving them an opportunity to create and present work without the challenges that come with finding and maintaining affordable space.
Open Stage grantees receive:
  • a $6,000 credit to be used towards booking up to 80 hours in our historic theatre space,
  • $1,000 from EAG's Teri Black Performance Fund to be used towards performer/director stipends, AND
  • limited additional funding (amount TBD) for some specific line items in their production budgets thanks to public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

The application for EAG's 2027 Open Stage grants is now closed. Applications will open for 2028 in May 2027. Before applying for this grant, applicants are encouraged to read the Open Stage FAQ's and testimonials from past recipients.

Summer 2026 Grant Recipient

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Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble is an ensemble of multidisciplinary theatre makers committed to shaping the future of classical theatre, making it accessible for all. For this grant, the company will continue developing Mary Hamilton's award-winning script,  16 Winters, or The Bear's Tale . 

About the Show
In a secluded cabin in the woods, a queen wakes from a nightmare. In a graveyard outside a castle, a king attempts to repent. Their attendants - two middle ranking lords and ladies (“nobodies, really”) are left to clean up the pieces of a kingdom in the wake of a tragedy. Meanwhile time plays with everyone’s hearts as they wait for a prophecy to restore what has been lost. 

16 Winters, or the Bear’s Tale imagines the unknowable events of the 16 year gap between Acts 3 and 4 of The Winter’s Tale. Igniting a conversation between Shakespeare's classic and the next generation of storytellers, 16 Winters asks how we outlive tragedy, and reckons with the surprising and inevitable consequences of time’s passing.
Playwright: Mary Hamilton 
Director: Kea Trevett 
Music Director: Avi Amon 
Cast: Tsilala Brock, Francesca Fernandez, Jason Liebman, Blair Baker, Jamie Sanders, and Zo Tipp
Public Events:
  • ​Friday, August 21, 11:30 AM-1:00 PM: Join Apocalyptic for a preview of their education season. Their teaching artist team will share curriculum from their in-school residencies exploring Twelfth Night and offer points of entry for classroom teachers interested in teaching the play. Perfect for the Shakespeare enthusiast seeking a deeper connection with the play, artists looking to connect with other like-minded people in the industry, or teachers looking for new ways to engage your students. More details and $10 tickets are available now at apocalypticartists.org/community-events!
  • Saturday, August 29 & Sunday, August 30 at 2:00 PM: Join us for a workshop presentation of 16 Winters, or the Bear’s Tale, a new play inspired by The Winter's Tale, written by Mary Hamilton and directed by Kea Trevett. Tickets ($35) available now at apocalypticartists.org/16winters!

Congratulations to our 2027 Open Stage grantees!

After reviewing 33 applications, interviewing an extremely competitive pool of finalists, and engaging in MANY thorough discussions, we have our 2027 Open Stage grantees!
Our Winter 2027 grantee:
Letter of Marque Theater Company is an itinerant NYC ensemble of actors, musicians, dancers, designers, and dramaturgs presenting new, devised, and classic works. Their mission is to spread ensemble culture through responsive, inclusive, and accessible theater, and to engage individuals in collective success and meaningful dialogue.
Letter of Marque invites all generations to challenge apathy and brave the seas of social change. They envision a future in which success is pursued collectively, and believe ensemble ideology is a vital part of healthy communities.
"Theater brings people together and reminds us that we don't have to go it alone."
        
With this grant, Letter of Marque will continue to devise and refine and then present Drawing on Walls, a new play by Al Groppi developed in collaboration with the company. In the year 15,000 BCE, one homo sapien family must decide how to face the coming winter. In the year 2052, four scientists must excavate one of those homo sapiens from a block of ice... without killing them. Both working against deadlines—early humans against nature, scientists against permits—time shifts and shudders as our two clans struggle with what it means to be human and whether it is better to fight for survival by your own means or to sacrifice autonomy for prosperity. 
Our Summer 2027 grantee:
Hat on a Hat Productions is a small queer-led performing arts group located in Brooklyn, NY. Their goal as artists is to engage with their community to spark conversation about the issues that matter to them. 

This group of writers, improvisers, and actors came together to devise work collaboratively. Together, they create through character-driven improvisation—melding acting, writing, and comedy into a holistic creative process. As artists dedicated to collaborative storytelling and immersive theater, Hat on a Hat seeks to invite audiences into the process by creating work that raises challenging questions through humor and empathy. 

"The purpose of art is to forefront vulnerability, to portray and embody what we yearn for and what we are afraid of in order to bring us all closer together."
        
With this grant, Hat on a Hat will rehearse and then present their first foray into long-form theatrical production: Leave No Trace, a darkly funny family drama about four siblings avoiding the funeral reception of their eco-terrorist mother by hiding in the attic of their childhood home. Over the course of this 90-minute play, the siblings confront their obligations to each other and to the planet. Leave No Trace is a devised work produced and performed by the playwrights.

Past Grant Recipients

EAG's Open Stage space grant program is supported by the Teri Black Performance Fund, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of  Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
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2024's Black American Working Woman, presented by Good Light Productions, photo by Ahron R. Foster
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2023's Learning to Read by Moonlight, presented by Leviathan Lab, photo by Yuko Kudo
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2019's Totally Wholesome Foods, presented by Theater in Asylum, photo by Ahron R. Foster

Questions?

Director of Operations and Development Rebecca Lovett can help with the Open Stage Space Grant.