Photo Coverage: Barbara Seyda Wins Yale Drama Series Award for CELIA A SLAVE: 26 CHARACTERS TESTIFY
By: Genevieve Rafter Keddy Sep. 11, 2015
Now in its ninth year, the Yale Drama Series Prize is given out annually for a play by an emerging playwright, selected by a judging panel of one - a preeminent playwright of our time. The winner receives the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, as well as publication of the winning play by Yale University Press and a staged reading at Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow Theater. The Yale Drama Series is an annual international open submission competition for emerging playwrights who are invited to submit original, unpublished, full-length, English language plays for consideration. Seyda's play was selected from 1,478 entries from 47 countries.
THis year, the prize went to Barbara Seyda for her play, Celia, A Slave: 26 Characters Testify.
Celia, A Slave: 26 Characters Testify is a play based on the trial transcripts and court records from the State of Missouri vs. Celia, a Slave, file #4496, Callaway County Court, 1855, Fulton, Missouri. At age 19, Celia, a female slave, was accused, convicted and hanged for killing her 66 year old master, Robert Newsom, a prosperous Missouri landowner. The play is a tableau of interviews with the dead.
Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter Keddy
Yale Drama Series 2015
Barbara Seyda (Playwright/Honoree), Niegel Smith (Director) and Nicholas Wright (Judge)
Barbara Seyda, Niegel Smith and Nicholas Wright
Francine Horn, Barbara Seyda, Niegel Smith and Nicholas Wright
Barbara Seyda
Barbara Seyda
Andre Bishop
Barbara Seyda, Nicholas Wright, Abe Koegler and Craig Thornton
Craig Thornton
Barbara Seyda
Nicholas Wright, Abe Koegler and Craig Thornton
Francine Horn and Barbara Seyda
Francine Horn and Barbara Seyda
Barbara Seyda
Barbara Seyda
Barbara Seyda
Marsha Norman and Francine Horn
Marsha Norman and Francine Horn
Niegel Smith starting off the reading of the original play "CELIA A SLAVE: 26 CHARACTERS TESTIFY"
Pernell Walker
Pernell Walker
Pernell Walker
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