E.M. Lewis’ Mellon Foundation Playwright Residency at Artists Repertory Theatre Has Been Extended

E.M. Lewis has many passions, from history to Star Trek to the Willamette Valley farm she inherited from her great-grandparents. But above all, she is a playwright, and she has been awarded another three years of the Mellon Foundation Playwright Residency at Artists Repertory Theatre.

“This national honor from the Mellon Foundation recognizes a visionary artist based in rural Oregon,” Artists Rep artistic director Jeanette Harrison stated in a press release. “E.M. Lewis crafts form-bending work that is transformative, and we are beyond fortunate that she is close enough to collaborate with us at Artists Rep.”

The Mellon grant recognizes Lewis’ “outstanding contribution to the theatrical arts” and will drive the development and production of her upcoming play, The Great Divide. Inspired by the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the play is a co-commission by Artists Rep and Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s American Revolutions program.

“My hope is this residency will enable Artists Rep to inaugurate one of the new stages in our Morrison Street home with the world premiere of The Great Divide,” Harrison said (the renovation of Artists Rep remains ongoing).

“Ellen’s plays usually fall into two main types,” said Luan Schooler, Artist Rep’s director of new works. “There are intimate, character-driven works that focus on the intricacies of human relationships, and big, idea-driven, epic works that wrestle with political and cultural complexity.”

The Great Divide, Schooler said, “is shaping up to be a thrilling, theatrical, open heart surgery on our divided country.” The play already has a cast and a director: former Artists Rep artistic director Dámaso Rodríguez.

“I’m so grateful to the Mellon Foundation for three more years of funding through their National Playwright Residency Program, and to Artists Rep for giving this playwright a home!” said Lewis.

She added, “In spite of the pandemic and all the shifts and changes in the world, the last three years of support from the NPRP has helped me to flourish—creating new work and dreaming bigger than ever before, with Artists Rep and with other theaters across the country. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish together in the next three years!”