Last fall, nonprofit theater group What Will the Neighbors Say? got good news: the National Endowment for the Arts had awarded them a $15,000 grant to support the premier of a new play, “At the Barricades,” in Brooklyn.

The group was “overjoyed and really excited,” said co-artistic director Sam Hood Adrain. The grant was “the final piece of the puzzle” to take the production to the next level. What Will the Neighbors Say? would be able to hire more artists, extend the show’s run, and pay everyone involved a little bit more.