Andrew Rosendorf, a 2008 graduate of The New School for Drama’s playwriting program, was recently awarded a ten-month playwriting residency with Florida Stage through the National New Play Network (NNPN). A member of NNPN, Florida Stage is a theater located in Manalapan, Florida. Before attending Drama, Rosendorf spent a year interning in Florida Stage’s Literary and Education Department; he remained in contact with the theater while pursuing his MFA in Playwriting. When the residency became available, the theater immediately contacted Rosendorf and offered him the opportunity to apply.

 “As part of the residency, I’ll continue working with the Literary and Education Department, as well as with community outreach programming and mentoring young playwrights,” Rosendorf says. “Florida Stage will also provide support for me as I develop and write my own work over the next year.”

Is Rosendorf excited? “Very! It is another year where I can avoid the real world and put off those worries as long as I can!” He continues, on a serious note, “I hope to foster new industry connections, gain exposure for my work, grow as an artist, and begin to find my way.

“I really feel that because of The New School for Drama, I have stronger understanding of play structure and have opened myself up emotionally as a writer. I definitely have become more aware of what it means to put risk in my work, putting it all on the page. I do feel that I still have a lot to learn, and a lot of maturing and growing as a writer—but I also feel I’m off to a great start.”