The A.R.T. Institute Alumni Association Lab recently awarded grants for the second annual Artist Grant Program, helping fund projects proposed by four graduates of the American Repertory Theatre or Harvard University. The grants range from $1000 to $2000 and will be used to cover various costs such as rehearsal space, artist fees, and marketing materials. The funding will help alumni increase their visibility in the dramatic arts community and foster collaboration with both established and emerging artists.

Julia Pearlstein (’91) received a grant for a workshop production of her multimedia play with songs entitled Half Past. The workshop will be presented at Dixon Place in New York City.

Ron Burch (’91) and Jeanne Willcoxon (’92) were awarded funding to go towards a full production of Mr. Burch’s play Mona Lisa, which recently won the 2010 Rocky Mountain Theatre Association Playwriting Competition. The play will be presented in Minneapolis, MN.

Alexander Burger (’94) received funding for a staged reading of the play Whose Blood, about two African immigrants who seek assistance at a London hospital. The production will take place at London’s Old Operating Theatre, a converted 19th century surgical ward.

Bennett Singer (’86) and Ellen Reeves (’83) were awarded a grant for a reading of their play Gerda’s Lieutenant, based on the lives and love letters of 86-year-old Gerda Weissmann Klien and her late husband Kurt Klein, the American soldier who liberated Gerda from six years under Nazi rule.

Established in 2007, the Alumni Lab is the artistic arm of the A.R.T. Institute Alumni Association. In 2010, the Lab began collaboration with the Harvard University alumni group Harvardwood, opening up grant opportunities to the greater Harvard community.