NATIONWIDE: Finalists for the 2014–15 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, which honors female playwrights in the U.S. and Great Britain, have been announced. The winner, who will be awarded a cash prize of $25,000, will be named at the awards presentation March 2 in New York City.
The nominees are:
Lisa D’Amour (U.S.) – Airline Highway
Alice Birch (U.K.) – Revolt. She said. Revolt again.
Alecky Blythe (U.K.) – Little Revolution
Clare Barron (U.S.) – You Got Older
Clara Brennan (U.K.) – Spine
Katherine Chandler (U.K.) – Parallel Lines
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (U.S.) – The World of Extreme Happiness
Lindsey Ferrentino (U.S.) – Ugly Lies the Bone
Zodwa Nyoni (U.K.) – Boi Boi Is Dead
Heidi Schreck (U.S.) – Grand Concourse
Ruby Rae Spiegel (U.S.) – Dry Land
Tena Štivičić (U.K. and Croatia)- 3 Winters
The winner will also receive a signed print by Willem de Kooning. Each of the additional finalists will receive an award of $5,000.
Co-founded by Emilie S. Kilgore and William Blackburn, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize honors new English-language plays by women on an annual basis. It reflects the values and interests of Blackburn, an American actress and writer who lived in London during the last 15 years of her life.
Previous winners include Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica, Annie Baker’s The Flick, Jennifer Haley’s The Nether, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, Chloe Moss’sThis Wide Night, Katori Hall’s Hurt Village, Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’sBehzti (Dishonour), Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House, Dael Orlandersmith’s Yellowman, Julia Cho’s The Language Archive, Gina Gionfriddo’s U.S. Drag, Bridget Carpenter’s Fall, Charlotte Jones’ Humble Boy, Naomi Wallace’s One Flea Spare, Wendy Kesselman’s My Sister in this House, Jessica Goldberg’s Refuge, Moira Buffini’s Silence and Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money.
The international panel of judges for the 2014–15 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize includes, in the U.S., actor Carmen Herlihy, director Liesl Tommy and Chay Yew, artistic director of Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre. U.K. judges are BAFTA and Emmy award-winning actor Rebecca Hall, playwright Rona Munro and National Theatre associate director Bijan Sheibani.
