The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence
In collaboration with The Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program (NPRP), Rattlestick’s Playwright-in-Residence program provides three years of salary, benefits, and a flexible research and development fund. More than a standard residency, this initiative is as an intervention into the traditional relationships between artists and institutions, as a way of reimagining what institutions might look like when an artist’s voice is at their cores.
Rattlestick is thrilled that Basil Kreimendahl has been the Playwright-in-Residence since 2019. He is a working-class, transgender artist, whose work often explores the intersection of language, class, gender and sexuality. He is currently in development with FX and A24. His plays have won several awards, including the Rella Lossy Playwright Award and a National Science Award from the Kennedy Center. Basil Kreimendahl has been commissioned by Yale Rep., Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions Program, and by Actors Theatre of Louisville. We’re Gonna Be Okay had its world premiere at the 2017 Humana Festival. Basil's play Orange Julius was developed at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and had its New York premiere at Rattlestick Theater, in a co-production with P73. Basil’s plays have also been produced or developed by New York Theatre Workshop, American Theater Company, Victory Gardens Theater, Ryder Farm, The Lark, La Jolla Playhouse, and Labyrinth Theater Company among others around the country. Basil has been a McKnight Fellow, Minneapolis Playwrights’ Center and a Jerome Fellow. He’s received an Art Meets Activism Grant for work with the trans community in Kentucky. Basil’s work has been published by Dramatic Publishing and HowlRound. He received his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 2013.