TAMPA, FLA: The Farm Theater, in collaboration with the Hillsborough Community College (HCC), has named playwright Amy Gijsbers van Wijk the recipient of the Physical Distance Commission.
The Physical Distance Commission will connect HCC students with professional artists to create a play exploring how human and social experiences are tied to physical touch. The commissioning project will support the development of a new play that can be rehearsed and presented to a live audience while following the CDC guidelines of safe physical distancing. The plan is for HCC to begin rehearsals in September, and for Gijsbers van Wijk to participate via Zoom. HCC will present the play to a live audience, as well as with a livestream, Nov. 5-8.
Amy Gijsbers van Wijk (she/her) is a queer, first-generation American playwright from Pasadena, Texas, now based in Brooklyn, N.Y. She writes plays about sex, shame, the femme gaze, and technology. She has been a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee, a 2019 Princess Grace semi-finalist, and she won the national 2018/19 DVRF Playwrights Program. She has recently been an Ensemble Studio Theatre Youngblood finalist and EST/Sloan Commission finalist; a two-time semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival; and a two-time O’Neill semi-finalist. Her work has been developed with the Flea, Pipeline, Fresh Ground Pepper, New Light Theatre Project, Dixon Place, Project Y, Egg & Spoon, Boomerang Theatre, Pride Films & Plays (Chicago), and elsewhere. New Georges affiliated artist; B.A., Brooklyn College under Erin Courtney. Recent MFA graduate, Carnegie Mellon University under Rob Handel.
