Oratorio For Living Things Revived Off Broadway, Playwright Honored

In October 2025, the MacArthur Foundation announced its annual "Genius" grant recipients, honoring exceptional creativity and promise for important future advances. Among the 22 fellows are Heather Christian, the playwright and composer whose acclaimed, genre-defying 2022 musical Oratorio For Living Things is currently being staged in a revival Off Broadway, and Garrett Bradley, the filmmaker whose documentary Time was Oscar-nominated.

Christian's Obie-winning Oratorio had its world premiere Off Broadway at Ars Nova in 2022, and the current revival at Signature Theatre began previews on September 30, 2025, opening on October 16 and running through November 16. The staging is part of Christian's residency at the theater. Bradley is known for her short and feature-length films, video installations, photography and television credits, including a 2017 episode of Queen Sugar.

Other 2025 MacArthur fellows include atmospheric scientist Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, nuclear security specialist Sébastien Philippe, interdisciplinary artist Gala Porras-Kim, and neurobiologist and optometrist Teresa Puthussery.