John Guare Appointed As New Yale Drama Series Judge Beginning 2011

Award-winning playwright John Guare will succeed Edward Albee and David Hare as judge for the Yale Drama Series, beginning in 2011.

In accepting the position, John Guare said: "In a few short years, the Yale Drama Series has asserted itself as the preeminent playwriting contest in the English speaking world. This annual event has become a playwright's dream. Edward Albee and David Hare have judged the competition in previous years. I am honoured to be the judge for the next three years."

Francine Horn of the David C. Horn Foundation who fund the annual international playwriting competition, said "What an honour for the Foundation and the Series that John Guare will be our next judge. The job is mammoth and I am delighted that he embraces it with joy and enthusiasm."

The winner of the Yale Drama Series will be awarded a prize of $10,000, publication of their play by the Yale University Press, and a reading at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

In February of this year, David Hare announced American playwright Virginia Grise's blu as the winner of the 2010 Yale Drama Series competition. blu will receive a staged reading at Yale Rep in September and be published by Yale University Press. Lidless, by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, winner of the 2009 Yale Drama Series competition, will have its world premiere this year at the High Tide Festival in Suffolk followed by performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as a production at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in West Virginia.

JOHN GUARE

Multi award-winning John Guare is the author of plays including House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation and Landscape of the Body. Guare won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Two Gentlemen of Verona and also wrote the book for the musical Sweet Smell of Success. Later this year his play A Free Man of Color will be produced by Lincoln Center Theater in New York, directed by George C. Wolfe.

YALE DRAMA SERIES

Submissions for the 2011 Yale Drama Series competition must be postmarked no earlier than 1 June 2010 and no later than 15 August 2010. The competition is open to any original, unpublished and unproduced full-length play in English. For complete contest rules please visit www.dchornfoundation.org

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Founded in 1908, Yale University Press is one of the largest and most distinguished American university presses. It publishes over 320 books a year in a wide range of disciplines, including history, literature, drama, art and architecture, American studies, philosophy, politics, religion, reference, music, and the sciences. www.yalebooks.com

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE

A champion of new work, Yale Repertory Theatre has produced well over 100 world, American, and regional premieres including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists by emerging and established playwrights. Eleven Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award nominations and eight Tony Awards, and Yale Rep itself is the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. www.yalerep.org

THE DAVID CHARLES HORN FOUNDATION

The David Charles Horn Foundation was established in 2003 by Francine Horn to honour the memory of her late husband. David Horn was the publisher and CEO of Here & There, the leading international forecasting and reporting publication for the fashion industry. Francine Horn created the Foundation to support new initiatives in the literary and dramatic arts to commemorate her husband's lifetime commitment to the written word. www.dchornfoundation.org

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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