DREAM HOU$E, By Eliana Pipes, Wins The 2019 Leah Ryan Prize For Emerging Women Writers

DREAM HOU$E by Eliana Pipes, winner of the 2019 Leah Ryan Prize for Emerging Women Writers, "Leah's FEWW" will be celebrated as part of the festivities at this year's Lilly Awards honoring women in American Theater to be held at the Minetta Lane Theatre, May 19 at 7pm. Ms. Pipes will be awarded the prize by FEWW board member and writer, Jennifer Krasinski.

DREAM HOU$E follows two Latinx sisters on an HGTV-style show who are selling their family home, hoping to capitalize on the gentrification in their "changing neighborhood." As they perform for the camera the show starts to slip into the surreal: one sister grapples with turmoil in the family's ancestral past and the other learns how much she's willing to sacrifice for the family's future. A play exploring the cultural cost of progress in America.

Eliana Pipes is a playwright and actor. She received a BA in English from Columbia University, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Playwriting from Boston University.

Recent playwriting work includes: DREAM HOU$E (Ars Nova ANT Fest, San Diego Rep New Latinx Plays Festival, O'Neill Theater Conference Finalist); UNTITLED (National New Play Network MFA Workshop); STAND AND WAIT (Gaffney National Playwriting Prize Winner, Bay Area Playwright's Festival Finalist); STILETTO ENVY (Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, The Fire this Time Festival). She is currently a member of Echo Theater's NYPR Program. More at www.elianapipes.com.

There were over 400 submissions to the FEWW this season. Of the thirteen finalists for the prize, there were two honorable mentions for Lily Ackerman and her play, HIPPO; and Krista Knight and her play, SHOOTER!