Should We Dance Instead? Awarded 068 Magazine Playwriting Fellowship 

With major support from 068 Magazine, we are pleased to announce the 068 Magazine Playwriting Fellowship and its first fellow, Phanésia Pharel. The six-month fellowship will begin February 1, and include a stipend, developmental funds, and workshops in support of the playwright’s new material.

Ms. Pharel wrote the sensational new play, Should We Dance Instead?, for Thrown Stone’s 2021 season, The Suburbs. The play resurrects Ned and Betsy Armstrong — the now-famous operators of the Ridgefield Underground Railroad — in today’s world, where their family homestead is on the market for $28 million. Performed on the front lawn of the West Lane Inn, Ms. Pharel’s visionary story depicted the Armstrongs reclaiming their moral legacy and more importantly, their own happiness. BroadwayWorld said the play “brilliantly blends history, spirituality, and creativity.”