The Farm Theater Awards Physical Distance Commission to Amy Gijsbers van Wijk

The Farm Theater in collaboration with Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, FL have awarded Playwright Amy Gijsbers van Wijk their Physical Distance Commission.

The Physical Distance Commission is a commission to write a new play that can be rehearsed and presented to a live audience while following the CDC guidelines of safe physical distancing. The play is meant to be an exploration of what about our human and social experiences is tied to physical touch and closeness; what of that can be transmuted to online experiences; and what can be saved, or lost, through the desire to adapt to an imagined future. While the play will deal with the ramifications of COVID-19, it will not directly discuss the virus but will focus more on attempts at connection, contact, and intimacy (romantic and platonic) after the event's we're currently facing. The play should be able to be staged virtually but is also meant to be performed live (physically) with actors all observing social distance (six feet apart or further).

This is the second collaboration between The Farm Theater and Hillsborough Community College. HCC was a Partner School in last season's College Collaboration Project that produced and developed Judith Leora's play The Hierarchy of Fish. Padraic Lillis, Artistic Director of The Farm Theater, and HCC Associate Professor of Theatre Suzy Devore, felt it vital that student artists be able to rehearse and present live theater during this period of the unknown. The Physical Distance Commission connects students with professional artists and creates opportunities for a playwright to develop new work through full production. The script will have a workshop of the first draft, over Zoom, with professional actors in late August. HCC will begin rehearsals with the new draft early in September. Playwright, Amy Gijsbers van Wijk, will be able to attend rehearsals via Zoom during the process and continue to rewrite. Hillsborough Community College will present the play to a live audience, as well as a livestream presentation, November 5-8.

Amy Gijsbers van Wijk (she/her) is a queer, first-generation American playwright from Pasadena, Texas, now based in Brooklyn, NY. She writes plays about sex, shame, the femme gaze, and technology. She has been a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee, a 2019 Princess Grace semi-finalist, and she won the national 2018/19 DVRF Playwrights Program. She has recently been an Ensemble Studio Theatre Youngblood finalist and EST/Sloan Commission finalist; a two-time semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival; and a two-time O'Neill semi-finalist. Her work has been developed with The Flea, Pipeline, Fresh Ground Pepper, New Light Theatre Project, Dixon Place, Project Y, Egg & Spoon, Boomerang Theatre, Pride Films & Plays (Chicago), and elsewhere. New Georges affiliated artist. BA, Brooklyn College under Erin Courtney. Recent MFA graduate, Carnegie Mellon University under Rob Handel. www.amygvw.com

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