Victory Gardens Theater has expanded its playwrights ensemble by four, a spokeswoman for the theater said on Tuesday.
The new additions are Luis Alfaro (“Oedipus el Rey”), Ike Holter (“Exit Strategy”), Naomi Iizuka (“Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West”) and Laura Schellhardt (“The Comparables”).
They join existing members Philip Dawkins, Marcus Gardley, Samuel D. Hunter and Tanya Saracho.
The playwrights will remain in the ensemble for seven years after which they’ll become alumni. During the residency, Victory Gardens commits to developing the playwrights’ works and, at times, producing their plays on the theater’s stages.
Since the new playwrights ensemble was created in 2012, the theater has produced five of its ensemble members’ works including “An Issue of Blood” by Gardley, “The Gospel of Lovingkindness” by Gardley, “Rest” by Hunter, “The Whale” by Hunter and “Failure: A Love Story” by Dawkins.
The theater also produced two plays by Alfaro — “Oediups el Rey” and “Mojada” — before he was named to the ensemble.