THIS IS GOVERNMENT by Nina Kissinger Wins the 2025 Stanley Drama Award

Wagner College Theatre has announced that Nina Kissinger is the winner of the 2025 Stanley Drama Award for her dark comedy, THIS IS GOVERNMENT.

Set against the backdrop of a political crisis in the U.S. government, the play follows three interns trapped in a lockdown as they navigate the chaos of political disarray-and confront the question of what power, if any, they truly possess.

The first runner-up is EVERYONE IS DOING FINE by James Wade, and the second runner-up is COCKROACHES by Emma Schillage. The award ceremony will take place at The Players in New York City on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at 6:30 PM. The event will feature a short scene from the winning play, directed by Professor Mickey Tennenbaum and performed by members of the Wagner College Theatre community.

ABOUT THE STANLEY DRAMA AWARD

The Stanley Drama Award was established in 1957 by Staten Island philanthropist Alma Guyon Timolat Stanley and endowed through the Stanley-Timolat Foundation to encourage and support aspiring playwrights. The national Stanley Award competition is administered by the Wagner College Theatre program. The Stanley Award carries with it a monetary prize along with the distinction of joining the company of past Stanley winners, including Terrence McNally, Adrienne Kennedy, Lonne Elder III, and Jonathan Larson.

THE WINNER

THIS IS GOVERNMENT After a bomb threat places all congressional buildings on lockdown, three summer interns find themselves stuck in the one place no one has ever wanted to work overtime: the U.S. government. As the crisis unfolds and their snack supply runs out, they question what power, if any, they have in this increasingly unstable system. Nina Kissinger's dark comedy, THIS IS GOVERNMENT, grapples with the real-time consequences of political disarray.

Nina Kissinger (she/her) is a playwright originally from San Francisco and currently based in Brooklyn. Her plays include THIS IS GOVERNMENT (B Street Theatre's 2024 New Comedies Festival, 2024 Valdez Theatre Conference, Shake Rag Alley's 2023 Alley Stage Reading Series, 2023 NHSI Theatre Division Reading Series, 2022 Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival, 2025 ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition Quarterfinalist, 2023 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist, 2023 Ashland New Plays Festival Semi-Finalist, 2023 Morgan-Wixson Theatre New Works Festival Semi-Finalist), THE EXIT INTERVIEW (Soho Playhouse's 2024 Lighthouse Series, Barons Court Theatre's 2024 Reboot Festival, T. Schreiber Studio & Theatre's 2024 Schreiber Shorts Festival, Ghostlight Theatre Ensemble's 2024 Festival 10, Over Our Head Players' 2023 Snowdance 10-Minute Comedy Festival, South Street Players' 13th Annual Tri-State Theatre Festival), I WASN'T PLANNING ON SAYING ANYTHING (The Tank's 2024 Limefest Summer Festival, Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts' 2024 Scherbarth Residency), and SORRY WE'RE OPEN (RE/VENUE NYC 2024 Festival @ The Paradise Factory Theatre). She is a member of the 2024-2025 BMI Musical Theatre Bookwriting Workshop, 2024-2025 Purple Light Productions Artist Palette Cohort, and a graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied playwriting under Laura Schellhardt and Julie Marie Myatt. WEBSITE: ninakissinger.com

THE FINALISTS

EVERYONE IS DOING FINE Art, sex, and commerce collide in this fast-paced comedy-drama when two listless art school grads are hired by a wealthy hedge fund manager. As their worlds collide in unexpected ways, the friends begin to wonder whose futures are being bought and sold.

James Wade is a playwright based in Calgary, Alberta. He has developed or presented work with Lunchbox Theatre, Theatre Calgary, The Citadel Theatre, The University of Lethbridge, The University of Calgary, Workshop West Playwrights Theatre, Death & Pretzels, Steel River Playhouse, and The Road Theater Company. His plays have garnered awards from across Canada and the United States including The Alberta Playwriting Competition (HELMUT'S BIG DAY), The National One-Act Playwriting Competition (IN CASE OF FIRE), and the Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival's One-Act Play Contest (BY THE BOOK). His recent play EVERYONE IS DOING FINE has been recognized with placements from the Austin Film Festival, the Inkslinger Playwriting Competition, the Alberta Playwriting Competition, and the Stanley Drama Award. James is the co-founder of the Calgary collective Red Phone Theatre and is a member of the 52nd Street Project in New York City. He holds a BFA from the University of Lethbridge and an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Calgary. He is currently a member of the Citadel Playwrights Lab.

COCKROACHES is a Southern Gothic dark comedy about three sisters trapped in their childhood home grappling with their mother's most recent suicide attempt. Momma has been acting strange since coming home from the hospital, causing eldest daughter, Jenny, to come home from college, middle child, Charlie, to act out, and youngest child, Sissy, to follow in her mother's footsteps. Meanwhile, monsters are lurking, ready to consume every bit of innocence in their path. As their mother's humanity fades, the sisters must learn to care for themselves and each other before it is too late. COCKROACHES explores how we create monsters, survive them, punish them, and learn from them in the wake of disaster. Inspired by Southern Gothic tales and loosely based on Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, the play features three young female characters filled with rage, joy, and fierce humor as they navigate a dark and treacherous world.

Emma Schillage (they/them) is a queer Southern Gothic playwright, actor, director, and theatre educator based in New York and New Orleans. Schillage earned their BA in Theatre Arts from Loyola University New Orleans ('19) and MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University ('23). Fascinated by the macabre from a young age, Emma's writing incorporates elements of horror, whimsy, and teenage angst. They often write about resilience, childhood, mental illness, and the horror/wonder of growing up in the Deep South. Their work has been produced by The 24-Hour Plays: Nationals, Red Bull Theater, the cell Theatre, Breaking and Entering Theatre Co., and Southern Rep Theatre. Their play, COCKROACHES, was a semi-finalist in the Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition, long-listed for The Seattle Public Theater's Distillery New Work Festival, was a Finalist in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, and is The Del Shores Foundation's 2024 Winner for Best Play.