MINNEAPOLIS: Cristina Castro and James Tyler have been named the 2015–16 Many Voices Fellows, awarded by Playwrights’ Center to two early-career writers of color, one of whom must reside in Minnesota. The Many Voices Fellowship, funded by the Jerome Foundation, awards recipients $10,000, plus $2,500 for living expenses and $1,500 for development funds.

Cristina Castro is a playwright and performer from San Antonio, Tex. She is the recipient of the Silver Award in Playwriting from the National YoungArts Foundation. She has performed  with Mixed Blood, Park Square, History Theatre, Teatro del Pueblo, the Playwrights’ Center, Theater Coup d’Etat and Little Lifeboats, among others. Castro is a member playwright of the Unit Collective, a diverse group of theatre professionals from underrepresented communities who nurture, develop, advocate and produce new work. She is a 2011 graduate of the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program.

James Tyler holds an M.F.A. in film from Howard University and an M.F.A. in dramatic writing from New York University. Tyler is the recipient of the Paul Robeson Award and the John Golden Award for Excellence in Playwriting, and is a 2014–15 Dramatists Guild Fellow. His plays include Some Old Black Man, recently developed at LaMaMa in New York City, and The Drop Off, developed at the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Playwrights Playground and Future Classics Series. His play You’re Sitting in the Dark was a semi-finalist for the 2014 O’Neill Playwrights Conference.