In alphabetical order, the five finalists are Jeesun Choi, Katherine Gwynn, Onyekachi Iwu, Andrew Siañez-De La O, and Gage Tarlton.
Ucross and The Blank Theatre today announced the five finalists for the second annual Ucross + The Blank Theatre - Future of Playwriting Prize, a one-of-a-kind award for young playwrights nationwide. Ucross and The Blank are partnering to showcase the importance of emerging artists across the country and to celebrate the innovative work that is asking questions and evolving theater as we know it.
In alphabetical order, the five finalists are Jeesun Choi, Katherine Gwynn, Onyekachi Iwu, Andrew Siañez-De La O, and Gage Tarlton. The grant jury, in alphabetical order, is Tamadhur Al-Aqeel (playwright, leader of Company of Angels and Vagrancy Theatre playwrights' groups); Boni B. Alvarez (producer/playwright/actor); Ryan Bergmann (director specializing in new play development, Mixed eMotion Theatrix Executive Director); Beth Bigler (playwright/teacher, director of Blank Theatre Youth Academy, Blank Theatre board member); Jose Casas (playwright/director/actor, Assistant Director of Playwriting at University of Michigan); Michelle Flowers-Taylor (actor/anthropologist, Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice, producer of Black Women: State of the Union); Prince Gomolvilas (playwright, winner of PEN Center USA Literary Award for Drama, former Assistant Professor of Writing at USC); Daniel Henning (actor/director/voiceover artist, founding artistic director of The Blank Theatre); Sigrid Hilmer (playwright, winner of Map Fund Creative Exploration Grant and James Irving Foundation Fellowship); Prize Program Director Kila Kitu (actor/director, Black Women: State of the Union, producer of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette); Joshua Lamont (actor/producer/teaching artist); Amir Levi (actor/director/producer); Penelope Lowder (playwright/screenwriter/novelist, recipient of Marvin Miller Screenwriting Fellowship and LA Theatre Center Playwrights Residency); Annie McGrath (producer/creative executive); Angela Oh (actor/director, Blank Theatre board member); Bree Pavey (actor/director/producer, producing director of The Blank Theatre, managing director of Loft Ensemble); Zander Pryor (playwright, two-time YPF winner); Vasanti Saxena (playwright); Lee Sherman (actor/teacher, former Company of Angels associate artistic director); Tamika Simpkins (actress/editor/writer/producer); Cece Tio (producer at Moving Arts and Playwrights Union); Jamila Webb (actor); Jennie Webb (playwright/dramaturg, LAFPI co-founder); and Betsy Zajko (actor/journalist, Jeff and Ovation Award nominee, Women in Journalism Award-winner for producing and reporting for CBS and NPR).Videos