NEW YORK CITY: The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has announced the 2015 class of Doris Duke Artists. Among the 20 multidisciplinary artists receiving the award, seven are theatre artists, including Paul S. Flores, Cynthia Hopkins, Daniel Alexander Jones, Linda Parris-Bailey, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, Steven Sapp and Shawn Sides.
Each Doris Duke Artist will receive $275,000 in flexible, multi-year funding. Recipients can access their funds over a period of three to five years. The recipients come from a variety of fields, including contemporary dance, theatre and jazz.
Ben Cameron, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (and former executive director of Theatre Communications Group, the publisher of American Theatre), said in a statement: “We are tremendously proud to announce to the world the fourth class of Doris Duke Artists. This year’s class is particularly notable for their collective, strong and consistent commitment to touring and working in multiple communities, enabling them to have enormous impact on artists and audiences in every corner of the country. We are thrilled to recognize the accomplishments of such an influential and talented set of artists, and to make a substantial investment in their continuing work and well-being as they forge into the future.”
Paul S. Flores is a performance artist/playwright based in San Francisco. His works include PLACAS: The Most Dangerous Tattoo, the solo performance You’re Gonna Cry and the two-hander REPRESENTA!
Cynthia Hopkins is a writer and composer living in NYC. Her works include The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success), Must Don’t Whip Um and Accidental Nostalgia.
Daniel Alexander Jones is an interdisciplinary theatre artist whose work includes Night Flowers and the concert/performance Radiate, both featuring his alter-ego Jomama Jones, and Bright Now Beyond .
Linda Parris-Bailey is playwright-in-residence and executive/artistic director of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based Carpetbag Theatre Inc. Her playwriting credits include Speed Killed My Cousin and Between a Ballad and a Blues.
Mildred Ruiz-Sapp and her husband/fellow Duke artist Steven Sapp are co-founders of UNIVERSES. Among their credits for the ensemble are Party People, Spring Training and Ameriville.
Shawn Sides is co-producing artistic director of the Rude Mechs in Austin, Tex., which she cofounded in 1995. She directed the most recent Rude Mechs show, Stop Hitting Yourself, and her other credits with the group include Now Now Oh Now, The Method Gun and Dionysus in 69.
The Doris Duke Artist Awards program is one of two awards program offered through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Awards. The DDPAA, launched in 2011, is part of a more than $50 million, 10-year commitment from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to empower, invest in and celebrate artists.
