The Lark Founder John Clinton Eisner is retiring after 27 years as the artistic director of the international play development laboratory. His replacement, selected last month, will be announced in March.
During Eisner’s tenure, The Lark established new initiatives and programs to support the development of new plays and the playwrights who author them. The company, founded in 1994 as a counterpoint to a commodity-based culture of theatre, currently prioritizes voices that have been historically under-resourced and marginalized through fellowships that support artists at all stages of their careers, including the Apothetae and Lark Playwriting Fellowship and Initiative, which supports Disabled playwrights, the Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, which supports playwrights of color aged 30 and under, and the Venturous Fellowship, supporting risk-taking plays.
"John Eisner created and guided the Lark to become a vanguard organization, empowering playwrights when our plays were in danger of being over-developed by theatres and facilitating international exchange when few other organizations supported this work,” added Lark board member and playwright David Henry Hwang. “Now, The Lark is transforming to meet the needs of today, by welcoming exciting new leadership which will help guide post-pandemic theatre to greater artistic excellence through equity, diversity, and inclusion. We are deeply grateful to John for his service, vision, and hard work, and wish him well on his next creative chapter. He remains an inspiration to us all."