Civis Hope Commissions
“Hope may seem daring in this age of angst and uncertainty, but it is at the heart of three major new works coming to the Fisher Center at Bard.” —The New York Times
Fisher Center LAB has received a landmark gift from the Civis Foundation to establish The Civis Hope Commissions. The gift creates an endowed commissioning fund that will support, in perpetuity, the development and production of major new works in the performing arts that explore the subject of hope.
These productions will have a common framework: They will support contemporary artists who will examine, interrogate, and transform American artifacts, archival materials, or artworks from the past to imagine a more perfect, just, and hopeful future.
These first three commissions bring together outstanding contemporary artists who will respond to artworks from the past and, in doing so, develop three timely stories of young women—Treemonisha, Catherine Holly, and Yentl—who dare to challenge the status quo. These commissions will be produced over the next three years, with announcements of dates to follow.
Jubilee
Fisher Center LAB/Hope Commissions
Libretto by Suzan-Lori Parks
Inspired by Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha
Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
“Now that we free
Who we gonna be?”
The first Civis Hope Commission is Jubilee, a new musical with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog), inspired by Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, and directed by Steve H. Broadnax III.
Replete with dancing bears and bags of luck, and set on the day after the Emancipation Proclamation, Jubilee joyfully asks what the world might become when all people are truly free. Parks has drawn inspiration from Joplin’s 1910 ragtime opera to create a magical, hilarious, and timely fable about a young woman who leads her community out of adversity and into a new way of being.
Work-in-Progress Reading
July 11–13, 2025
Join us for a semi-staged, first-glimpse preview of Jubilee. This summer’s public readings of Parks’ libretto will offer audiences a rare opportunity to engage directly with the development of a major new musical, which the Fisher Center will premiere as a full production, once a composer has been chosen to write music for the project.
Tickets on sale April 9
Suddenly Last Summer
Fisher Center LAB/Hope Commissions
Composed by Courtney Bryan
Directed by Daniel Fish
Libretto by Daniel Fish and Gideon Lester
The second commission is the world premiere of an opera based on Tennessee Williams’ play Suddenly Last Summer, his Southern Gothic one-act play set in the Garden District of New Orleans in 1936 that tells the dramatic story of the wealthy Venable family, and a young woman’s struggle to speak truth to power.
Suddenly Last Summer is composed by MacArthur Fellow and “pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (The New York Times) Courtney Bryan and directed by Tony nominee Daniel Fish (whose acclaimed Oklahoma! was commissioned and premiered at Bard SummerScape before being presented at St. Ann’s Warehouse and eventually transferring to Broadway and the West End). Fish co-writes the libretto with Fisher Center Artistic Director and Chief Executive Gideon Lester.
Yentl the Yeshiva Boy
Fisher Center LAB/Hope Commissions
A New Musical
Based on the story Yentl the Yeshiva Boy by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Conceived by Barrie Kosky and Lisa Kron
Book and lyrics by Lisa Kron
Music by Adam Benzwi
Directed by Barrie Kosky
The third commission will give new form to a work by a second American literary legend: Isaac Bashevis Singer’s whimsical and mysterious story Yentl the Yeshiva Boy is given thrilling theatrical life in a new musical conceived by acclaimed theater and opera director Barrie Kosky and two-time Tony-winning writer playwright, performer, and author Lisa Kron.
Fun Home lyricist/book-writer Kron likewise pens the book and lyrics for this new adaptation, with music composed by frequent Kosky collaborator Adam Benzwi, adapting and transforming melodies from the American and European Yiddish theater and music hall traditions, as well as the emotionally resonant canon of Hasidic choral music.
Kosky, “one of the busiest and most brilliant, not to mention entertaining, directors working… today” (The New York Times), stages the world premiere adaptation of Singer’s story of a teenage girl in a Polish shtetl who, in order to be true to herself, decides to live as a boy and pursue her forbidden dream of studying Torah.
In the Press
“Hope may seem daring in this age of angst and uncertainty, but it is at the heart of three major new works coming to the Fisher Center at Bard.” —The New York Times
From left, the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the composer Courtney Bryan, the director Barrie Kosky and the playwright Lisa Kron, all artists who will work on Civis Hope Commissions at the Fisher Center at Bard. Credit…Erik Carter for The New York Times, Maansi Srivastava/The New York Times, Andrew Testa for The New York Times, Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Innovation Fund
The Fisher Center Artistic Innovation Fund was initiated by Advisory Board member Rebecca Gold Milikowsky in 2019 to support the development and implementation of daring, innovative, and ambitious projects in the performing arts through Fisher Center LAB.
The Fund provides flexible, multi-year support for artists and ideas at all stages of creation, and beyond to national and international touring and digital dissemination.
Your contribution allows artists the freedom to dream, and the means to transform their dreams into contemporary performances of the highest caliber.
Performing Arts Lab
A NEW BUILDING DESIGNED BY MAYA LIN
Situated in meadows to the west of the Fisher Center and overlooking woodlands and the Catskill Mountains, the building will house rehearsal and teaching facilities for artists at all stages of their careers, including students from Bard’s undergraduate programs in Dance and Theater & Performance.
The Performing Arts Lab will also serve as the home for Fisher Center LAB, the center’s acclaimed residency and commissioning program for professional artists.
A Powerful Catalyst
of art-making and a nurturing artistic home. The Fisher Center is a cultural beacon for artists and audiences alike.
