NEW YORK CITY: The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons have named Julia Jarcho the winner of the second annual Mark O’Donnell Prize. The award, presented annually to a promising theatre artist, includes a cash prize of $15,000, use of the Mark O’Donnell Theater in Downtown Brooklyn for one week to develop a reading of a new work, as well as counseling from the Actors Fund on challenges faced by emerging artists.
The prize, named for the late co-writer the book of the musical Hairspray, is made possible by a gift from Stephen O’Donnell in memory of his brother Mark.
Julia Jarcho is a New York City playwright and director working with her company, Minor Theater. She has won an OBIE award for Best New American Play for Grimly Handsome as well as a Doris Duke Impact Award. Additionally, she has been a MacDowell Fellow and an LCT New Writer in Residence at Lincoln Center. Jarcho’s plays include The Terrifying (Abrons Arts Center 2017), Every Angel is Brutal (Clubbed Thumb 2016), and Nomads (Incubator 2014). She has also published two books: Minor Theater: Three Plays and Writing and the Modern Stage: Theater Beyond Drama.
The Actors Fund is a national human services organization that provides social services and financial assistance to professionals in the arts and entertainment. Playwrights Horizons is an Off-Broadway theatre dedicated to nurturing theatre artists and commissioning new plays and musicals.
