Our Impact

We measure our impact by the engagement of our diverse community, the quality and number of Lark-affiliated plays that have moved into the repertoire through production and the influence of our playwrights on cultural conversations locally, nationally and globally.

Playwrights know us as a safe and empowering space to lead their own creative processes and engage with their communities. Audiences recognize our success in giving both established and underrepresented voices a platform to raise uncomfortable questions and provoke conversations about social change.

Our Numbers

Last season The Lark served 813 artists, including 95 playwrights. We reviewed 992 plays through our open access program; partnered with over a dozen theaters and universities and welcomed 2,016 audience members to 31 public presentations. We maintain 100% of our programs free of charge to artists and audience alike.

Our Plays

In the past five years 194 Lark-developed plays moved on to 450 presentations around the world and were seen by 1,165,962 audience members. Examples of plays substantially developed at the Lark include Kimber Lee’s brownsville song, (b-side for tray), David Henry Hwang’s Chinglish, Mona Mansour’s The Way West, Dominique Morisseau's Skeleton Crew, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, Samuel Hunter’s The Whale and Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj.

Our Artists

“The Lark is the only place I know that is truly artist-driven, and that’s why it’s so important to the American theater right now.”

— David Henry Hwang

“Over the years, I have been told by many producers I would need to change things in my plays if I wanted mainstream theaters to present them, but The Lark only embraced me and told me to write my truth. The Lark helped me be brave and just do my work. It can do the same for other writers, too.”

— Katori Hall

"The Lark helped restore my faith in my own work by bringing their unique blend of rigor and joy to the development of my plays. But they've also given me something larger: a restored faith in theater itself. From their little perch on 43rd and Eighth, The Lark's diverse, creative community sends forth ripples of hope that really do change the world.”

— Gus Schulenburg

“No one takes you under their wing like the Lark.”

— Marcus Gardley

Our Initiatives Our Model

Get Involved

Interested in how YOU can get involved at The Lark? There are lots of ways to engage with the Lark community. We have about 40 public events every year that are free and open to the public. You can submit a script, volunteer, become a donor and more.

Slideshow Production Photo Credits: Photo 3: The LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of brownsville Song (b-side for tray). Photographer: Erin Baiano; Photo 5: The Marin Theatre Company production of The Way West. Photographer: Kevin Berne; Photo 7: The Marin Theatre Company production of The Whale. Photographer: Kevin Berne.