Southern Rep & Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival to Partner for THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL

Southern Rep and the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival are pleased to announce that they will partner to bring the multi-faceted annual festival THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL to New Orleans, January 10 - 12, 2014. Working together, Southern Rep and The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival will produce THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL (including an award ceremony for Southern Rep's annual Ruby Prize) to encourage the development of new work, nurture local playwrights and support New Orleans' creative community by gathering local artists, playwrights, directors, and the theatre community at large together to exchange and produce ideas.

"Southern Rep is deeply committed to supporting the development and continuation of new works, particularly by local playwrights, and THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL is a natural extension of that priority. We are excited to work with The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival to bring the annual event and The Ruby Prize back to New Orleans -- and to use it to preserve and promote the city's legacy as a world-renowned site for innovative Contemporary Theatre." - Aimee Hayes, Producing Artistic Director, Southern Rep

"We're excited to be collaborating with Southern Rep in that it is a pleasure to work with like-minded individuals-interested in supporting fresh new voices and presenting innovative theater alongside classics by playwrights such as Tennessee Williams. All of this will be part of THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL. A great way to kick off the new year by celebrating New Orleans rich literary heritage." - Paul Willis, Executive Director, The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival

The NEW PLAY BACCHANAL will be a weekend of performances, Ruby Prize-related staged readings, play slams with the playwrights of 6x6, a series of Playwright Master Classes and multiple panel discussions that will convene industry experts to discuss issues that include: the challenges that women (and particularly women of color) face as playwrights, and the State of New Orleans Theatre.

THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL will also include an award ceremony naming the winner of this year's The Ruby Prize, a $10,000 award named in honor of Ruby Bridges, who showed incredible perseverance in the face of formidable obstacles. The Ruby Prize seeks to support women playwrights of color whose work changes the voice of American theatre in the face of calcified producing practices. In partnership with Hedgebrook, the winner will receive a ten-day writer's residency in addition to a cash prize. Staged readings of both the winner and two finalists' work will be held as a part of THE NEW PLAY BACCHANAL program schedule.

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