Meet Francine Volpe, 2016-17 McKnight National Residency and Commission recipient

The Playwrights' Center is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2016-17 McKnight National Residency and Commission, Francine Volpe.

The McKnight National Residency and Commission, selected by an independent panel, funds the creation and development of new works and comes with a $14,000 commission, $5,750 in workshop funds, and travel and housing stipends. Recent recipients include Erik Ehn (Queen), Karen Hartman (Roz and Ray), Sibyl Kempson (The Securely Conferred, Vouchsafed Keepsakes of Maery S.), and Betty Shamieh (Veritas). For her 2016-17 commission, Francine Volpe will be working on a new play about lies, manipulation, and online dating.  

Francine Volpe was born and lives in Brooklyn. Her plays include The Good Mother (dir: Scott Elliot with Gretchen Mol), The Given (dir: Michael Imperioli), and Late Fragment (dir: Michael Imperioli). She has had work produced and/or developed at Arena Stage, ACT, Rattlestick, SoHo Rep, and The New Company in London. Francine was the inaugural winner of the Lanford Wilson Prize in Playwriting. She twice received grants from the Lecomte du Nouy Foundation for playwriting and was twice a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Francine received her B.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She was a Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwriting Fellow at The Juilliard School where she studied with Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang. She was the winner of the Agnes Ranjo Capps scholarship at the Missoula Playwrights Colony. She teaches at NYU, Sarah Lawrence College, The Missoula Colony, and The New Group. She is currently commissioned by The New Group and is a member of New Dramatists.