Philadelphia Theatre Company Announces Donja R Love As First Winner Of Revived Terrence McNally Award

Philadelphia Theatre Company announced the first winner of the newly revived Terrence McNally Award. The theatre wanted to revive the award and had been in discussion with McNally and his husband, producer Tom Kirdahy, to move forward before McNally passed away due to complications of Covid-19 in March 2020.

Many McNally plays have grappled with queer identity, social justice, and the transformative power of art. PTC put these themes at the center of what they were looking for in applications and the theatre also wanted to foster local talent. This year, the award was solely open to writers born, raised, or currently residing in Philadelphia.

Led by PTC Resident Artist Jeffrey Page, two panels of local theatre artists reviewed 65 total applications, and Kirdahy joined the process to adjudicate the 11 finalists. Philadelphia native and NYC-based playwright Donja R. Love (he/him) was honored as the winner for his new play, What Will Happen to All That Beauty?, a new work that revisits the inhumane handling of AIDS in the 1980s United States.

Love will receive a $5,000 cash award and developmental guidance and dramaturgical support for the play from PTC. Paige Zubel (she/they), was a runner-up and named PTC Playwriting Fellow, for their work Actually, Honestly, Going to f-ing Die. Jarrett McCreary (he/him) and Lori Felipe-Barkin (she/her) received Honorable Mentions for their submissions.

"Donja Love wrote an unflinching, sprawling epic featuring intricately-detailed characters that are so hungry, you find yourself trying to breathe for them," said PTC Producing Artistic Director Paige Price. "What Will Happen to All That Beauty? revisits the desperately inhumane handling of AIDS in the 1980s United States beautifully and painfully."

It is the 25th anniversary of Master Class, a McNally masterpiece that premiered at PTC and starred a young Audra McDonald as well as Zoe Caldwell, and went on to win Tony Awards for the play and the actors on Broadway. Philadelphia Theatre Company revived the award to both honor McNally, who had a long standing relationship with PTC, and also to put a stake in the ground, committing to the creation of more opportunities and support for local artists.

"I constantly wrestle with the idea of judging one person's art against another person's art," said Page. "I have not been able to reconcile such a concept fully. I believe that reading a script, or partaking in any artistic rendering, is a sacred business of the highest order. It represents an opportunity to walk through new worlds and discover something different about how life works on us. It is a gift to glimpse how another human being imagines the world through the poetic and explicit. Reading scripts and the accompanying submission materials in my apartment, I cried, laughed, became charged, and expanded my prescribed ways of being. Over 60 playwrights entrusted me and the 2021 Terrence McNally Award review panel with their most treasured words; for this, I am grateful. Congratulations again to all the applicants. I am so excited to be introduced to you through your heartfelt work!"

Donja R. Love (he/him/his) is Black, Queer, HIV-Positive, and thriving. A Southwest Philly native, his work examines the forced absurdity of life for those who identify as Black, Queer, and HIV-positive - a diverse intersection filled with eloquent stories that challenge the white supremacist, heteronormative structures that exist in American culture. He's the recipient of the Antonyo's inaugural Langston Hughes Award, the Helen Merrill Award, the Laurents/Hatcher Award and the Princess Grace Playwriting Award. Other honors include The Lark's Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, The Playwrights Realm's Writing Fellowship, and the Philadelphia Adult Grand Slam Poetry Champion. He's the co-founder of The Each-Other Project, an organization that helps build community and provide visibility, through art and advocacy, for LGBTQ+ People of Color. He's also the creator of Write It Out - a playwrights' program for writers living with HIV. Plays include soft (MCC), one in two (The New Group), Fireflies (Atlantic Theater Company), Sugar in Our Wounds (Manhattan Theatre Club, Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Nominations), and The Trade. He sits on the board at The Lark and is an Artistic Councilmember at People's Theatre Project. He's a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School.

"Terrence McNally was unflinching in his quest to unearth the truth and create a softer space for those on the margins," said Love. "The same can be said for Black people living with HIV and those who've passed due to AIDS-related illness. We know our lives matter; we also know that our stories matter, too. Access and resources, which we're seldom offered, are important in our stories being told. With winning this award, I can't help but think that Terrence McNally's legacy and the theatre community agree. For that, I am deeply grateful."

Other finalists for the Terrence McNally Award were : Nikki Brake-Sillá (she/her), Lee Edward Colston II (he/him), Rachel Graf Evans (she/her), L M Feldman (she/they/any), Griffin Horn (he/him), Erlina Ortiz (she/her), and Bruce Walsh (he/him).

The panelists included Ang Bey, Lauren Davenport, Walter DeShields, Neal Gupta, J. Hernandez, Heather Helsinky, Alix Rosenfield, Ed Sobel, Kahil A.Wyatt, Kenny Zhou, and Angel Chasco in the first round. The final panel was Carrie Chapter, Santino DeAngelo, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Tom Kirdahy, Jeffrey Page, Paige Price, Gayle Smith and A. Zell Williams (former McNally Award winner). James Ijames, another former winner of the award, had to step down from the panel for personal reasons.

Love's work, What Will Happen to All That Beauty? explores the question, "what do legacy and family look like to the Black LGBTQ community?" His play looks at this through a historical and familial father-son lens using HIV and AIDS as the subject.

"The conversations I've had helped me craft a nuanced and authentic story that feels simple yet epic in scope," said Love in his application. "When I think about this award and what it represents, I think about Mr. McNally being one of the first playwrights to write about AIDS. That is the quest to reach a softer existence that I speak of; that is what this award represents. The work and life of Mr. McNally were not only committed to social justice, queer rights, and the transformative power of art, but community as well. And What Will Happen to All That Beauty? is a long-overdue love letter to my community."

Many McNally plays have grappled with queer identity, social justice, and the transformative power of art. These themes were foregrounded in how the plays were evaluated, based on a selection procedure developed by Price and Resident Artist Jeffrey Page. This year, the award was solely open to writers born, raised, or currently residing in Philadelphia.

The Terrence McNally New Play Award was first conceived to annually recognize a new play that celebrates themes in McNally's work. McNally and his husband Kirdahy had approval of the selected recipient (from PTC's short list). Kirdahy has expressed his desire to participate in the award moving forward. The award includes a $5,000 cash prize and development guidance at PTC (administrative and dramaturgical support) and access to professional connections to help manage the future of the play beyond its time at PTC.

"I am confident this award will help identify the next generation of American Playwrights who understand the special power of theatre to transform hearts and minds and that Philadelphia Theatre Company will continue to be a welcoming venue for them," McNally said in a statement when the award was originally announced.

PTC's relationship with Terrence McNally includes the World Premieres of Master Class, Golden Age, Some Men and Unusual Acts of Devotion, and the Philadelphia regional premieres of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Love!Valour!Compassion!, and Mothers and Sons.

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