Philadelphia Theatre Company Launches Terrence McNally Play Award

Philadelphia Theatre Company announces the creation of The Terrence McNally New Play Award, a $10,000 cash prize given annually to recognize a new play that celebrates the transformative power of art. The Award will also include a year of development support at PTC, including readings as well as administrative support and networking to help manage the future of the play beyond its time at PTC.

PTC has produced the world premieres of Master Class, Golden Age, Some Men and Unusual Acts of Devotion and the Philadelphia regional premieres of Love! Valour! Compassion!, Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

“PTC has enjoyed a long and fruitful collaboration with Terrence McNally,” said PTC’s Producing Artistic Director Sara Garonzik. “We believe that the inherent humanity found in McNally’s work, along with his belief in the indelible impact that art and beauty can make on the individual, as well as upon society, should be recognized and celebrated.”

“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,” said playwright Terrence McNally.

Each year, the PTC artistic and literary office will solicit proposals, writing samples and scripts from playwrights by invitation. Projects must be full-length and are only eligible if they have not been previously produced. PTC will have the world premiere rights for the project for up to three years after the award is given.

For its 2012 inaugural year only, the scope of the search will be more limited than in subsequent years when a more broad-based solicitation will be employed. The announcement of the 2012 award will be made and celebrated during the company’s PTC@PLAY Festival, which will run February 27 -March 11, 2012.

Beginning in Summer 2013 (year two of the Award) with a complete solicitation/selection process, scripts will receive multiple readings by a committee comprised of the PTC artistic and literary staff over the course of seven months, resulting in the selection of 8-10 semi-finalists. The semi-finalists will be read by a special Advisory Council who will recommend three finalists. PTC, in consultation with Terrence McNally, will then select the winner. The winner will be announced at the PTC@PLAY Festival and the winner’s new script will be read at the following year’s Festival as a part of its development process.

Terrence McNally is the recipient of four Tony Awards for Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, Ragtime, and Kiss of the Spider Woman. His other musicals include the books for Catch Me If You Can; The Full Monty; A Man of No Importance and The Visit as well as the libretto for the opera Dead Man Walking. He won an Emmy Award for Andre’s Mother.

The mission of Philadelphia Theatre Company, now in its 36th season, is centered around the development and production of imaginative and entertaining contemporary theater focused on the American experience that both ignites the intellect and touches the soul. PTC supports the work of a growing body of diverse dramatists and over the last 20 years has developed and produced 24 world premiere productions by writers and composers including Terrence McNally, Bill Irwin, David Ives, Naomi Wallace, J.T. Rogers, Jeffrey Hatcher, Bruce Graham, Christopher Durang, John Henry Redwood, Margaret Engel and Allison Engel, and Barbara Lebow. Through its STAGES new play development program, PTC has developed over 80 new works, over half of which have gone on to production or publication. Under the auspices of STAGES the company now produces an annual PTC@Play Festival, and, over time, has offered commissions to writers including Bruce Norris, Gina Gionfriddo, Stephen Belber, Bill Irwin, Zakiyyah Alexander as well as residencies and mentorships. Over the years PTC has also lent developmental support through readings and workshops to dozens of playwrights including Theresa Rebeck, Kirsten Greenidge, Jose Rivera, Lisa Dillman, Craig Wright, Tom Gibbons, Charles OyamO Gordon, Larry Loebell, and Michael Hollinger. PTC has recently begun a working relationship with Theater Masters to lend support to emerging playwrights. Philadelphia Theatre Company owns and operates its resident home, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, which opened in 2007 as a center for the development and production of new American plays and musicals on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts.

For further information, please call 215-735-7356.

 

 

 

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