2026 Finalist
Initiative
Synopsis:. A bittersweet reflection on adolescence at the dawn of the new millennium, Initiative charts the intertwined lives of seven teens from 2000-2004, as they become friends and more than friends, wrestle with their potential, face incalculable loss, and struggle to find their way in (and get out of) “Coastal Podunk, California.”
World premiere: The Public Theater in New York, November 2025.
Cast Breakdown: 5M 2W 1NB
Set/Costume Requirements: Multi-location interpretable
Agent: Emma Feiwel and Adam Turkel, WME
Bio: Else Went (she/herself) is the current Tow Foundation Resident Playwright at The Public Theater, and has had work developed through writing labs and groups at The Public Theatre (EWG), Ars Nova (Play Group), WP (Lab), Playwrights Realm (Fellowship), Trans Theatre Lab, and Bechdel Project (FifE Fellow). Recipient of new work commissions from MTC Sloan Foundation, South Coast Reperatory, Atlantic Theater Company, and Breaking the Binary Festival, among others. She has been in residence with MacDowell, The Mercury Store, Stillwright, and Barn Arts Collective. Further developmental support from Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, Mercury Store, The Tank, The Brick, and ISC. Recipient of a Susan Smith Blackburn special commendation (An Oxford Man); Finalist for Princess Grace Award (Degenerates), 2023 Jerome Hill Artist (Jerome Foundation), Shakes. New Contemps. (Whate’er), and the Carlo Anoni Prize (An Oxford Man). Co-founder of The Renovationists, an artistic collective dedicated to queering the canon.
The world premiere production of Initiative by Else Went and directed by Emma Rosa Went at The Public Theater, New York. Photos by Joan Marcus.