Award for Outstanding Female Playwrights

Julia Cho and Jayne Houdyshell at The Language Archive opening, cred: Spellman, WireImage.com

In its thirty-third year, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced the finalists for its prestigious playwriting award.  The award honors outstanding new English-language plays by women, and was won in 2010 by Julia Cho for her play The Language Archive, which premiered on Broadway last fall, and was produced by Roundabout Theatre Company.  Last year the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize received an honor itself, and was awarded the 2010 Theatre Communications Group’s National Funder Award in recognition of their leadership in support of theater in America.

The ten finalists for the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize were chosen from among over 100 nominated plays.  Chosen are:

• Lisa D’Amour - Detroit, Steppenwolf Theatre Company  (U.S.)
• Sam Burns - Not The Worst Place, Paines Plough (U.K.)
• Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig - Lidless, Marin Theatre Company (U.S.)
• Georgia Fitch - Satellite Faith,The Royal Shakespeare Company (U.K.)
• Katori Hall - Hurt Village, Signature Theatre Company (U.S.)
• Lisa Kron - In the Wake, Berkeley Repertory Theatre (U.S.)
• Tasmin Oglesby - Really Old, Like 45, The Royal National Theatre (U.K.)
• Anne Washburn - Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (U.S.)
• Joy Wilkinson - The Golden Age, Everyman Playhouse Liverpool (U.K.)
• Alex Wood - The Andes, Out of Joint (U.K.)

The winner of the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will be awarded $20,000 and a signed print by artist William de Kooning created especially for the prize.  Each of the Finalists will receive a $1000 prize, and a $5,000 Special Commendation prize may be presented at the judge’s discretion.  A ceremony honoring all the finalists will take place on February 28 in New York.

Follow Broadway.tv on TWITTER

Follow Broadway.tv on FACEBOOK

Tags: Alex Wood, Anne Washburn, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Georgia Fitch, Joy Wilkinson, Julia Cho, Katori Hall, Lisa D'Amour, Lisa Kron, Roundabout Theatre Company, Sam Burns, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Tasmin Oglesby, The Language Archive, William de Kooning

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Broadway Blog, Broadway Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.