The National Endowment for the Arts

A Bronx Ballet has been selected for production support through the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal grant awarded to the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center to produce outstanding student work. The play will receive its staged reading at LPAC, with budget allocated, actors paid, and full marketing support provided by the house. It is the first fully produced showcase of an original work by playwright Michele Michou Vital.

The National Endowment for the Arts is one of the most prestigious arts funding bodies in the country. “When LPAC received that grant to produce student work and chose MY play — that is not a small thing. That is an institution saying this work matters.”—says Michou. Matters enough to invest federal arts funding into it.

The LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, one of New York City's most respected theatrical venues, has received a grant through the National Endowment for the Arts to produce outstanding student work. Selected from that body of work is A Bronx Ballet — an original play by Michou Vital. The production will receive its staged reading in May 22, 2026 at LPAC, and while it is presented as a reading, audiences should expect nothing bare about it. With costumes, sound, lighting, and a fully rehearsed cast, the evening is designed to deliver the full theatrical experience. For an independent artist, this kind of institutional recognition is rare. For Michou, it is simply the next step.