4th Wall Theatre Company To Present IN THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE PARKING LOT

In honor of the 45th Anniversary of the internationally prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 4th Wall Theatre Company is hosting a special one-night only reading of this year's Prize Winner, IN THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE PARKING LOT by U.S. playwright Sarah Mantell.  Presented on Sunday, June 4 at 7pm, the reading will be followed by a reception and conversation with the playwright.

Mantell describes IN THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE PARKING LOT as “a play about queer aging, capitalism, campfires and falling in love as the world ends”. Set on the precipice of the end of a world wracked by climate change, the play tells the story of a group of itinerant friends traveling together between warehouses, working night shifts, and checking the address labels of the packages searching for people they've lost. 

Founded in Houston, and awarded annually since 1978, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the largest and oldest international award recognizing women+ who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre. Women+ includes trans and nonbinary playwrights. Past winners of the Prize include Marsha Norman, Caryll Churchill, Julia Cho, Wendy Wasserstein, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Sarah Ruhl and Lynn Nottage.  

“We are very excited to be working with 4th Wall Theatre on this special reading, especially as 4th Wall will concurrently be running Jackie Sibblies Drury's fantastic FAIRVIEW, Winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2019, and subsequently the Pulitzer Prize for Drama” stated Leslie Swackhamer, Executive Director of the Blackburn Prize, and director of this reading.   Earlier this season, 4th Wall presented a previous finalist for the Blackburn Prize, Martyna Majok's Sanctuary City.  This year in Houston, The Alley Theatre presented another finalist, Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee, and Stages Theatre presented a previous winner of the Prize, cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza.  

Kim Tobin-Lehl of 4th Wall will act in the reading and is “thrilled to partner with the Prize to present this year's Winner to Houston. Throughout 4th Wall's history we have always strived to present outstanding works by female playwrights to our audiences. It has been our honor to serve as a source company for the prize and we have often premiered esteemed Blackburn prize winners to Houston; playwrights like Annie Baker, Gina Gionfriddo, Dominique Morriseau, and Martyna Majok have been seen at 4th Wall. Sarah has truly created something powerful and original this year and we are excited to be able to once again present a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize winner to Houston audiences, particularly alongside our Houston premiere of the 2019 winner - FAIRVIEW.”

Earlier this year in New York City, Playwrights Horizons hosted a celebration of the 45thAnniversary of the Prize, which honored Mantell and the 9 other finalists.  Mantell, the first out, nonbinary playwright to win the Prize, garnered a cash award of $25,000, and a signed limited-edition print by renowned artist Willem De Kooning, created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. The 9 finalists each received an award of $5,000.

  

In the last 45 years, 494 plays have been honored as finalists of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Many of the winners have gone on to receive other top honors, including Olivier, Lilly, Evening Standard and Tony Awards for Best Play. Eleven Susan Smith Blackburn finalists have subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. The Prize has also fostered an interchange of plays between the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries.

  

The cast for the reading features Houston talents Kim Tobin Lehl, Miika Stewart, Susan Shofner, Pamela Vogel, Christine Friale, and Pamela Garcia Langton.  Leslie Swackhamer directs.  

For Tickets, visit 4thwalltheatreco.com.

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