Finalists Announced for CTG's 2018 Richard E. Sherwood Award

Three finalists have been selected for Center Theatre Group's 2018 Richard E. Sherwood Award: Gina Young, Marsian De Lellis and Hana Kim. Center Theatre Group recognizes and celebrates this year's finalists for their exceptional contributions to the Los Angeles theatre landscape and their work as innovative and adventurous artists.

Created in memory of Richard E. Sherwood, the $10,000 award aims to cultivate emerging theatre artists working in Los Angeles who push the formal and aesthetic boundaries and demonstrate dedication to improving their respective artistic fields. The winner of the $10,000 award will be announced at the 2018 Ovation Awards. The two additional finalists will receive a $2,000 honorarium.

Gina Young is a writer, director, songwriter and performer, who has toured nationally and internationally with original performance work. Recent plays include "sSISTERSs," "Femmes: A Tragedy," and "Tales of a Fourth Grade Lesbo." She is also the creator of conceptual projects including "SORORITY," a queer performance salon, and the exploratory Feminist Acting Class. Gina studied drama at NYU/Tisch and is a member of the Dramatist Guild. In Los Angeles, her work has been presented by REDCAT, Highways, USC's Visions & Voices Series, The Hammer Museum and the Women's Center for Creative Work. She is a winner of the Jane Chambers Award for Playwriting and a second-time semi-finalist for the Sherwood Award.

Marsian De Lellis is an interdisciplinary artist and writer who constructs installations and time-based visual narratives that memorialize obsessional lives. His practice combines dolls, artificial figures, performing objects and elaborate costumes to investigate contemporary forms of animism, death, sexuality and addiction. A graduate from CalArts, his work has been presented in REDCAT's New Original Works Festival, the 2016 C.O.L.A. Fellowship Exhibition and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center as an artist in residence. Currently, he is fine-tuning "Object of Her Affection," a performance centered on a woman who develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects, which was a recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Project Grant.

Hana Kim is a live performance set and projection designer with a background in film design. She is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and recipient of Princess Grace Award in Theatre Design. Her designs have received Stage Raw Awards, StageSceneLA Awards and Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, as well as nominations for the Ovation Awards and Theatre Bay Area Awards. Recently, Hana has designed scenic projections for "Next to Normal" directed by Nancy Keystone for East West Players, "Wonderful Town" directed by David Lee at the Los Angeles Opera, "Dogeaters" directed by Loretta Greco for the Magic Theatre and "Collective Rage" directed by Lindsay Allbaugh for Boston Court.

Originally created in 1996, the Sherwood Award has met a vital need in the theatre landscape to support emerging artists.

Richard E. Sherwood was a patron of the arts with a special appreciation for emerging artists who are in the vanguard of theatre. He was president and then chairman of the Center Theatre Group Board of Directors from 1980 until his passing in 1993. The award is established as an endowed fund at Center Theatre Group by his family, friends, colleagues and fellow board members, to honor Sherwood's passionate commitment to theatre.

Past recipients of the Richard E. Sherwood Award include lighting designer Pablo Santiago, Miwa Matreyek of Cloud Eye Control, Sean Cawelti of Rogue Artists Ensemble, Miranda Wright of Los Angeles Performance Practice, Lars Jan of Early Morning Opera, lighting designer Christopher Kuhl and costume designer Ann Closs-Farley, among others.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation's preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles' leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation's leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging

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