Cherry Lane Theatre Receives '50/50 Applause' Award

Cherry Lane Theatre -- under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi -- is one of 29 international theatres from the U.S. to Norway, India, Italy and Canada to receive the 2013 International Center for Women Playwrights "50/50 Applause Award" for producing women playwrights it has been announced. The Applause Award recognizes theatres that produce 50% or more work by women playwrights in their season.

All four plays in Cherry Lane Theatre's 2013 Mentor Project season earlier this year were, in fact, by women: PAS DE DEUX by Lisa Ramirez, JOE by Elizabeth A. Davis, LAWNPEOPLE by Natalia Naman, and EXILE by Nastaran Ahmadi. Winner of the Obie and James Kirkwood Awards for fostering the work of contemporary American playwrights, each season Mentor Project engages leading dramatists in one-on-one mentoring relationships with emerging playwrights for an entire theater season, culminating with a production of the writer's play on the Cherry Lane stage.

Among the U.S. theatres to receive the 2103 ICWP "50/50 Applause Award" are: Playwrights Horizons (NY), New York Theatre Workshop (NY), Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis), Stage Left Theatre (Chicago), Synchronicity Theatre (Atlanta), Clubbed Thumb (NY) and HERE (NY). International theatres recognized include Black Coffee Productions and Indian Ensemble Theatre (India), Prairie Theatre Exchange and Factory Theatre (Canada), Haugesund Teater (Norway), and The English Theatre of Rome (Italy).

Cherry Lane Theatre is one of the most renowned theaters in the country, having produced a large succession of plays by nascent writers whose names have lent distinction to the American and international literary and dramatic treasuries dating back to the 20's: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Auden, Gertrude Stein, Beckett, Albee, Pinter and many more. In 1996 Angelina Fiordellisi revived Cherry Lane, preserved the building and detailed history and founded the producing company Cherry Lane Alternative, creating a number of programs to launch the next generation of American playwrights, among them David Adjmi, Sheila Callaghan, Bathsheba Doran, Anton Dudley, Katori Hall, Jakob Holder, Rajiv Joseph, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Winter Miller, Deirdre O'Connor, Christopher Shinn, Anne Washburn, and Bridgette Wimberly.

Cherry Lane's 2013-14 season includes the world-premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Fuller's play ONE NIGHT... starting previews Oct. 17, and Joe Pintauro's SNOW ORCHID in January.

For more information about Cherry Lane Theatre and its programs and productions, visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org