About Us:

Beginning in September 2023 at the Vino Theater, located at 274 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY,
the Neurodivergent New Play Series - a new ongoing play reading series dedicated to promoting the work of neurodivergent playwrights - will make its debut.

Founded by autistic playwright and producer Anthony J. Piccione, this ongoing play series features matinee play readings on the 3rd Sunday of every month - with seasonal breaks in December, January, July, and August - of plays written entirely by neurodivergent or disabled playwrights (i.e autism, ADHD, OCD, Tourette’s, etc.) as part of a growing resident company of playwrights whose interests and specialties span a wide range of subjects, genres & structural approaches, personally selected by a resident company of directors of whom the majority identifies as disabled and/or neurodivergent. 50% of all donations for the initial performances will go to the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, an autistic-run non-profit dedicated to advancing and celebrating neurodivergent culture & community.

Our first play selections will be announced to the public on June 18th, with an early announcement to be sent out to all our donors one week in advance on June 11th. RSVPs for in-person viewing at the Vino Theater and online at-home livestreaming is available now at www.sourgrapesproductions.com/neurodivergent-new-play-series.html.

Our Mission & Goals:

In keeping with our mission of promoting neurodivergent empowerment, our goal will be to focus on selecting playwrights who identify as being neurodivergent (i.e. autism, ADHD, dyslexia, OCD, Tourette's, etc.) with a neuroinclusive team of actors and directors working with us on each of our readings. Current resident directors include Jaye Hunt, Abigail Gabor, Andrés Gallardo Bustillo, Maggie Dunn, Zinc Tong, Emma Cavage & Ashley Adelman, with additional directors to be announced in the coming months. We will also be working with each of our playwrights to provide them with further development and production opportunties for their plays & fundraising support with the help of Fractured Atlas to bring productions or co-productions of their work to life in the future.

To this day, neurodivergent artists still face a great deal of stigma and misunderstanding, and we want to help eliminate that stigma by showcasing the talents of some of today's up-and-coming neurodivergent storytellings and empowering them to become successful in the theatre industry by giving them the resources to get their works produced on stage in NYC for a full theatrical run after a reading as part of our series.

In the long term, however, we hope this project will continue and serve as a launching pad and creative hub for neurodivergent writers looking to advance their careers in the arts and innovate the medium of live theatre as storytellers and artists. Our 1st season will be an opportunity for selected playwrights to have their work read aloud on stage, but ideally, we'd like to help them by either co-producing full productions of their work in 2024 or later OR helping by giving them the tools and resources they need to get it fully produced themselves. This new reading series would just be a starting point for these writers hoping to get their foot in the door, and for our audience, we hope it will give them a better understanding of the diverse range of talents and stories that come from the neurodivergent community.

Expenses:

We are seeking to raise up to $2500 to help support our programming as we go into our first performances in the Fall of 2023. Any funds that are raised will go toward:

We already have a venue agreement as well as grant backing from a notable arts funder to guarantee stipends for the initial performances. Having said that, the more funds we raise, the easier it will be to guarantee that we can present these plays at affordable ticket prices while also providing decent compensation to our participating artists.

Other ways to donate and share

If you cannot donate at this time, we hope you will please consider sharing with friends, family, acquaintances, etc. who share our passion and are able to donate. Thanks for Fractured Atlas, all our donations are tax-deductible & and any help we receive will go a long way.

Also, please be sure to follow us on Instagram @neurodivergentplays and Facebook at www.facebook.com/neurodivergentplays to receive updates, and be sure to spread the word by sharing our posts, if you like our content.