ACT Announces 2010 New Play Award Winner, Hosts Two Free Staged Readings

Playwright David Wiener has been named ACT's 2010 New Play Award winner for his play Extraordinary Chambers. Two FREE staged readings will be presented in ACT's Bullitt Cabaret on February 27 at 7:30 p.m. and February 28 at 3:00 p.m. Each reading will be followed immediately by post-play discussions with the playwright and the director, Kurt Beattie.

Set in Cambodia following one of the worst cases of genocide in the history of the world, Extraordinary Chambers brings Carter Dean, an American businessman, to Phnom Penh with his wife Mara reluctantly in tow. Primed to participate in the rehabilitation of a ravaged country's economic infrastructure and woefully ignorant of the political and emotional terrain they are entering, the Dean's stumble into a minefield of deception, intrigue, and betrayal connected to the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. A thrilling, haunting play about ethics of survival and the indomitability of the human spirit, Extraordinary Chambers marks the debut of a new and innovative theatrical voice.
Now in its fifth year, the ACT New Play Award is sponsored by Gian-Carlo and Eulalie Scandiuzzi. Their generous support provides for a national call for submissions and a highly-competitive review process. The winner receives $2,500 and the opportunity to workshop their play at ACT.

"Extraordinary Chambers was selected by unanimous decision of the 2010 New Play Award selection committee," said Literary Manager Anita Montgomery. "Beautifully written and compelling on a human and a global scale, the play takes us on a thrilling, haunting ride into the unfamiliar terrain of a war-ravaged Cambodia and asks us to look at the emotional and scarily-intimate terrain of human survival."

Past ACT New Play Award recipients include Zakiyyah Alexander's Sweet Maladies in 2009, presented by The Hansberry Project; Yussef El Guindi's Language Rooms in 2008, which has plans for an East Coast world premiere this year at the Wilma Theater and has been also been featured in the Ojai Playwrights Conference, and selected for inclusion in the Playwright Foundation's In The Rough new play development series; The K of D in 2006 by Laura Schellhardt which moved on to the Woolly Mammoth, Balagan, and Magic Theatres; and Mitzi's Abortion in 2005 by Elizabeth Heffron which was later produced as part of ACT's own 2006 Mainstage season.
The Extraordinary Chambers workshop will be directed by Kurt Beattie and will feature Jose Abaoag, Francois Chau, Khanh Doan, Tracy Hyland, and Darragh Kennan.

About the Playwright
David Wiener's playwriting credits include, Guts, La Arana, Love Song of the Apocalypse, Blood Orange, in vitro, Huera, Cassiopeia, Baltimore Star, System Wonderland and Extraordinary Chambers. His work has been developed and produced in the United States and the United Kingdom at theaters including: The Cherry Lane, The Blue Heron Arts Center, The Etcetera Theater (UK), HB Studios, The Atlantic Theater, The Almeida Theater (UK), The New Group, South Coast Repertory, The Berkshire Theater Festival, The Pacific Playwrights Festival, The Ojai Playwrights' Conference and Soho Rep. Wiener is a graduate of Duke University and Columbia University's MFA Dramatic Writing Program. He is the recipient of the Cherry Lane Fellowship, The Rossetti Fellowship, The Lark Fellowship, and The Reynolds Price Award for Drama as well as commissions from Atlantic Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, Soho Rep, and A Contemporary Theater. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service and Smith & Krauss. He is a Core Writer of the Playwrights' Center. He lives in New York City.

About ACT - A Contemporary Theatre
Located in the heart of downtown Seattle and serving a population of curious, open-minded, and brave audiences, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre is the only local theatre in Seattle dedicated to producing contemporary work with promising playwrights and local performing artists since 1965. A theatre of new ideas, ACT serves as a cultural engine that makes plays, dance, music, and film that touch us. Because contemporary life demands examination, ACT is driven to inspire and strengthen our diverse community through works that advance our understanding of human life. ACT is an interactive community where artists and the public witness, contemplate, and engage in dialogue on today's thought-provoking issues, ideas and art, presented with intelligence, insight, and humor.

ACT gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Season Sponsors ArtsFund, ACT Foundation, The Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and The Shubert Foundation, along with Producing Partners 4Culture, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Boeing Company, Microsoft Corporation, Nesholm Family Foundation, the Peg & Rick Young Foundation, and PONCHO.

ACT's 2010 New Play Award Workshop is made possible with the help of Gian-Carlo and Eulalie Scandiuzzi.

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