Lincoln Center Theater opens the new “Helen Gurley Brown” lab: $4.25 million for American theatre writers

Lincoln Center Theater has created a new development programme, the “Helen Gurley Brown Theater Lab,” thanks to a $4.25 million gift that the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation will grant the institution over five years, as BroadwayWorld reports.

The lab is a new home for writers developing new works for American theatre. Participants will have space, financial resources and strategic development opportunities to take their works to the stage. “The theatre lab is designed to incubate the future canon of new American theatre, for the Lincoln Center stage and beyond,” said Maria Manuela Goyanes, who, according to BroadwayWorld, will now hold the title of “Helen Gurley Brown Artistic Director of LCT3 and Producer,” while Kalina Ko was appointed “Helen Gurley Brown Theater Lab Manager and Associate Producer.”

The first group of writers includes weighty names: Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy winners for the concept album “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” and composers of the soundtrack of Disney’s “Moana 2”; Avery Deutsch, winner of the 2025 Neukom Playwriting Award; James Ijames, winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the play “Fat Ham”; Martyna Majok, Pulitzer Prize winner for the play “Cost of Living”; and Ro Reddick, winner of the 2026 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

The news comes at a time when developing new theatre is as difficult as producing it: rising costs and the pressure to move quickly into production leave little room for experimentation. Lincoln Center Theater’s artistic director, Lear deBessonet, said the programme aims to protect precisely this creative space. “Artists need more than a place to put a work on its feet — they need the time and support to explore new ideas and take creative risks,” she said.