WINNERS:
2008 WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: Another Dude’s Slingbacks: A Fairy Tale in Two Acts by Andrew Black
SECOND PLACE: Letter from a Soldier: My Name is Aslam by Debra Victoroff
THIRD PLACE: Aporia by Paul David Young
FINALIST: Kick flip by Nicole Gabriella Scipione
FINALIST: Redemption: A Collision of History and Memory in Four Breaths by Venus Opal Reese
FINALIST: Inside the Coma of Wayne Morse by Steve Lyons
2008 HONORABLE MENTION
90 Miles of Separation by Tony Macy-Perez
Alabama Baggage by Buddy Farmer
Catching Carp by Richard Nannariello
Gaming on Sacred Ground by Suzanne Bailie
Gentlefucknation by Johnmichael Rossi
Higher Concepts by Joan Dunayer
Katrina’s Path by Rob Florence
Michael's Race by Linda Goldberg
Mystery of the White Slave by William Rumbler
Orbit by Brie Wittman
Race Relations by Carrie Printz
Sangre de un Angel by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce
Split Ends by Venus Opal Reese
The Far End of the Earth by Keith McGregor
Through the Tulips by Naomi Tessler
2007 WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: A Human Shield by Robert L Kinast
SECOND PLACE: Sow and Weep by Nitzan Halperin
THIRD PLACE: Goliath: A Choreopoem in One Act by Takeo Rivera
FINALIST: School for Martyrs by John Wolfson
FINALIST: Off Stage by Mike Spiegel
2007 HONORABLE MENTION
B4 by Kathy Hsieh
Flat by Ellen Clifford
Hannah’s Play by Celia McBride
Please by Kellian L. Collins
Shadows by Redmond Reams
The Bird and the Two-Ton Weight by Darcy Fowler
The Sorters by Laura Camaione
2006 WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: Beautiful American Soldier by Dano Madden
SECOND PLACE: The Trash Bag Tourist by Brett Williams
THIRD PLACE: Banana Rat by Phoebe Rusch
FINALIST: Cycle by Rose Courtney
FINALIST: Family Living by Jack Hayes
2006 HONORABLE MENTION
And a Little Child Shall Lead Them by Paul B. Mirkarimi
Finding Pedro by James Heatherly
Grace by Sharon Sharth
War! A Spectacle! by Jess DiGiacinto
2005 WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: God, Sex and Blue Water by Linda Faigao-Hall
SECOND PLACE: Power in the Blood by T. Cat Ford
THIRD PLACE: Arkadelphia by Brett Williams
FINALIST: Call Me Vincent by Audrey Stanley
2005 HONORABLE MENTION
Marion Marion by David R. Draheim
Revolution by Sung J. Woo
He Came Home One Day While I Was Washing Dishes by K. Biadaszkiewicz
The Middle Eastern Beauty Unveiled by Rosanna Cacace
Joe B by Norman Rhodes
Back of All Things by Celia McBride
2004 WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: Conversations with a Kleagle by Rudy Gray
SECOND PLACE: Velocity by Daniel MacDonald
THIRD PLACE: I Can Cry by Miri Ben-Shalom
FINALIST: Indignity Let Us Go by Kim L. Slack
FINALIST: Home Again, Jiggety Jig by Janet Torreano Pound
2004 HONORABLE MENTION
Angelitos by Raina J. Leon
Cargo by Ruth McKee
Final Unction by David Hanson
Hablo Diablo by Nancy Ancowitz
If Sins be Forgiven by Nakia Oglesby
Lowenstein by Henry Meyerson
Shatter by Trina Davies
The Rood Screen by Donna Abela
2003 WINNERS
FIRST PLACE: (a tie for First Place)
King Christina by Martha Kearns
Ruby's Story by Ron Osborne
THIRD PLACE: Interview by Valerie Killigrew
FINALIST: Outburst by Leroy Clark
FINALIST: The Turtle Gets There Too by Arni Ibsen
2003 HONORABLE MENTION
Cry Wolf by Deborah Mulhall
Shades by Paula J. Caplan
Penny Candy by Carmen Betancourt
German Look East by Connor Kerns |
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UPDATES:
2008 CONTEST WINNERS
Another Dude's Slingbacks: A Fairy Tale in Two Acts received readings at 13th Street Rep on June 21, 2009 and August 2, 2009.
Andrew Black is collaborating with award-winning lyricist June Rachelson-Ospa (Final Judge for the contest) on turning the play into a musical.
The play will be produced by 13th Street Rep in Fall 2009. Audiences will be invited to the Rep to participate in the development workshops to turn Another Dude's Slingbacks" into a musical. The musical will also be produced at 13th St Rep!
Inside the Coma of Wayne Morse just won the 2009 Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Play Writing Contest. Congratulations Steve!
2007 CONTEST WINNERS
A Human Shield was given a full production by 13th Street Repertory in NYC as a direct result of the reading produced by New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. A Human Shield received a production September 26 - November 2, 2008.
Sow and Weep received a reading at 13th Street Rep on March 2, 2008.
2006 CONTEST WINNERS
Beautiful American Soldier received a reading at 13th Street Rep on April 1, 2007
The Trash Bag Tourist received a reading at 13th Street Rep on April 22, 2007.
The Trash Bag Tourist was submitted to Applause Books by the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest for inclusion in their Best American Short Plays for 2005.
Banana Rat received a reading at 13th Street Rep on June 17, 2007.
2005 CONTEST WINNERS
Pow'r in the Blood received a reading at 13th Street Rep on October 8, 2006.
Arkadelphia received a reading at 13th Street Rep on July 23, 2006.
The play was submitted to Applause Books by the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest for inclusion in their Best American Short Plays for 2005; Applause Books published Arkadelphia.
He Came Home One Day While I Was Washing Dishes by K. Biadaszkiewicz, which received an Honorable Mention, was submitted to Applause Books by the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest for inclusion in their Best American Short Plays for 2005; Applause Books published He Came Home One Day While I Was Washing Dishes.
2004 CONTEST WINNERS
Conversation with a Kleagle was given a full production by 13th Street Repertory in NYC as a direct result of the two readings produced by New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. The play was produced for a 2nd time by 13th Street Rep Feb 6 – Mar 29, 2009, in honor of Black History Month.
Rudy Gray: "I learned more about playwriting through the process of watching the play develop here (at the readings and with the production at 13th St Rep) than in all the courses I have taken on playwriting."
Conversation with a Kleagle was also produced February 16 - April 7, 2006.
Sandra Nordgren sent Conversation with a Kleagle to Annie Sopher at the Collective Theater Co in NYC, to John La Rock at Stage Source in Boston, to Sonya Basaran at Civic Theater of Greater Lafayette, to Eddie Goines, to Gerald Van Heerden at the Black Spectrum Theatre in NYC, and to Jean Marie Donnelly at StageFace Productions in NYC for consideration for production.
nytheatre.com 2006: "One of those rare shows important enough and powerful enough to warrant strong support and a large audience."
nytheatre.com 2009: "A riveting and memorable profile in courage, and it tells a story that's important to our collective history and character."
Backstage 2009: "A vivid glimpse of the ubiquitous Ku Klux Klan's lynching culture in the Deep South during the Coolidge administration."
Velocity received a reading at 13th St Rep on April 10, 2005.
2003 CONTEST WINNERS
Ruby's Story was given a full production by 13th Street Repertory in NYC as a direct result of the reading produced by New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest. The play was produced for a 2nd time by 13th Street Rep June 12 – July 19, 2009.
Ruby's Story was also produced May 20 - July 10, 2004. Ron Osborne: "I don't know how to thank you for the opportunity to see RUBY on your stage... The entire cast was special ... Troy Miller's direction was exceptional!"
"Thanks so much for the comment sheets -- I thought they were extremely well done, in fact superior to those provided by other competitions."
King Christina received a reading at 13th St Rep on June 27, 2004.
Interview received a reading at 13th St Rep on April 25, 2004. Another of Ms. Killigrew’s plays, Beyond the Invisible Enemy, was read at 13th St Rep in August 2004 and subsequently went on to receive the Bronx Council for the Arts Playwriting Award. Both plays were given a full production by 13th Street Rep November 2 - December 2, 2006 as a direct result of the two readings produced by New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest.
Outburst Although not one of the first three winning scripts, Outburst is a stunning work and received a reading at 13th St Rep on March 28, 2004. Leroy Clark revised the script based on the reading and the Q & A afterwards and the play had another reading at the rep on June 13, 2004.
The Turtle Gets There Too Although not one of the first three winning prize scripts, The Turtle Gets There Too received a reading at 13th St Rep on July 31, 2005.
Cry Wolf was given a full production by 13th Street Repertory in NYC as a direct result of a reading produced by New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest.
Cry Wolf was produced Oct 7 – Nov 27, 2004.
Shades: Although not one of the first three winning prize scripts, Shades received a development workshop at 13th Street Rep from June 28-July 2, 2004 and a reading on July 11, 2004.
Penny Candy Although not one of the first three winning prize scripts, Penny Candy received a reading at 13th St Rep July 18, 2004.
In 2007, Sandra Nordgren sent Penny Candy to Annie Sopher at the Collective Theater Co in NYC for consideration for production.
Fenced In: Although this play about racial prejudice did not receive Honorable Mention, it is a stunning work that could easily have been considered as a winning script except for one issue. Jeff Elwell was sent an evaluation addressing that issue. Mr. Elwell said the evaluation was one of the most in-depth, explicit evaluations he had received as a writer and was most helpful to him regarding rewriting the script.
In 2007, Sandra Nordgren sent Fenced In to Annie Sopher at the Collective Theater Co in NYC for consideration for production. |
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PLAY LOG LINES / SYNOPSES
2008 WINNING SCRIPTS:
2008 FIRST PLACE: Another Dude’s Slingbacks: A Fairy Tale in Two Acts by Andrew Black. When a fairy godmother grants a gay classmate's vengeful wish, "Killer" Kerrigan, the homophobic quarterback of the Lincoln High football team, is magically transformed into a homosexual. The football star learns what life is like on the other side of the pom-poms, and the gay student discovers that you better be careful what you wish for.
2008 SECOND PLACE: Letter from a Soldier: My Name is Aslam by Debra Victoroff. A soldier writes to his girlfriend and tells her about an Iraqi family he got to know there. Being in Iraq and meeting this family and the villagers at the market has changed him. In doing so, he confronts his own humanity and that of the citizenry of Iraq. (Playwright's log line pending)
2008 THIRD PLACE: Aporia by Paul David Young. The play shows the atrocities of war on a personal level, a disassociated media, and the duality of American culture with that of other cultures. The play also shows the sameness of the human needs of all people. (Playwright's log line pending)
2008 FINALIST: Kick flip by Nicole Gabriella Scipione. A complex story of a young man on a quest to find himself. He gets into drugs, is arrested for possession of drugs, becomes homeless and meets up with a girl from the streets who he falls in love with. Through the ups and downs of life, he winds up back at the doorstep of the house he grew up in and heals old wounds with his father. (Playwright's log line pending)
2008 FINALIST: Redemption: A Collision of History and Memory in Four Breaths by Venus Opal Reese. The play captures the pinnacle and defining moments which shape the course and content of a character’s existence. These moments address “what part do I play in my own degradation, as an individual and within a society, and what needs to happen to create a new possibility, more seductive than my past, which calls me into the future?”
2008 FINALIST: Inside the Coma of Wayne Morse by Steve Lyons. Wayne Morse is in a coma in a hospital room with a woman who has just given birth to a premature baby. The baby's essence is able to communicate with Wayne, even though he is in a coma. Throughout the play Morse and the baby struggle with whether life is worth living as Waye is thrown back to his experiences of trying to fight against the Gulf War. In the end, the baby decides that life really is worth living and makes the decision to live. (Playwright's log line pending)
2007 WINNING SCRIPTS:
2007 FIRST PLACE: A Human Shield by Robert L. Kinast. New Year's Eve 2010. As the Grant family comes together for their traditional New Year's Eve celebration, the United States is on the verge of war. The ongoing political differences escalate when Dad and twin daughters each share life-changing news. Nothing could have prepared this politically-charged family for the events that followed.
2007 SECOND PLACE: Sow and Weep by Nitzan Halperin. An unconventional exploration of the lives of two families amidst a vicious cycle of hatred and killing. Pulled deep into the Israeli/Palistine conflict by the pain of sudden loss a Palestinian law student an Israeli peace activist, seek a way out only to discover confrontation is their only hope. The play asks us to question the walls we put between ourselves and the Other Side.
2007 THIRD PLACE: Goliath: A Choreopoem in One Act by Takeo Rivera This is the journey of David, one very human man who is just as much a victim, as he is an agent, of unspeakable atrocity. A meditation on the institutional and cultural forces that normalize the violence of war, whether it be war overseas, or the little wars we wage privately with each other on a day-to-day basis. Inspired by a real incident that occurred March 13, 2006 twenty miles south of Baghdad.
2006 WINNING SCRIPTS:
2006 FIRST PLACE: Beautiful American Soldier by Dano Madden.Two sisters, lost along a quiet roadside in war-torn Iraq, find an unexpected friend in a man peddling junk. Their shattered hearts deal with the consequences of war in very different ways.
2006 SECOND PLACE: The Trash Bag Tourist by Brett Williams. A young woman who wants to be a rodeo star takes in a supposed Katrina refugee. He dreams of a better life once he gets his FEMA trailer; she dreams of a better life with a traveling rodeo, away from Arkadelphia and her do-nothing, trailer-trash Mama. As in life, some dreams die a hard death.
2006 THIRD PLACE: Banana Rat by Phoebe Rusch. An interrogator at Guantanamo Bay is assigned to an enigmatic detainee suspected of planning to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Dubai. They strike up an unlikely rapport, one which is complicated by manipulation and deceit. As the interrogation progresses, issues of terrorism, religion, betrayal, and a government that has taken on a leadership role it does not own, create a tangled web where truth cannot reveal itself.
2005 WINNING SCRIPTS:
2005 FIRST PLACE WINNER: God, Sex and Blue Water by Linda Faigao-Hall This unconventional farce about religion and family love focuses on a Filipino family's attempts to assimilate in America. Laling, a deeply religious woman, plans on following out the custom of her native homeland by crucifying herself during the Easter pasyon. Her daughter, Clarita, a healer experiencing the stigmata, has just arrived in the US from a childhood in a convent, and has met Brian, an American badly in need of salvation.
2005 SECOND PLACE WINNER: Pow'r in the Blood by T. Cat Ford. A daughter visits her dying mother in this Southern Gothic comedy set against a background of the religious right. Mother and daughter try to touch each other over the gulf of their differences and in doing so bruise each other repeatedly. As the final moment comes, all that is left is a willingness to touch.
2005 THIRD PLACE WINNER: Arkadelphia by Brett Williams. Bobby returns to his hometown of Arkadelphia, Arkansas after a semester of college in Manhattan. Seeking refuge in two childhood friends, he ends up exposing a secret the small, religious town would rather keep buried.
2004 WINNING SCRIPTS:
2004 FIRST PLACE WINNER: Conversations with a Kleagle by Rudy Gray Based on events in the life of civil rights leader Walter White, Conversations with a Kleagle takes place during the height of a lynching epidemic in the late twenties. A black writer, passing for white, travels to the deep South to interview a kleagle (a KKK recruiter). When his true racial identity is discovered by the Klan he escapes, only to find that his rescuer's family paid a dear price, a price that brings the writer back to the south to confront the kleagle and the Klan.
2004 SECOND PLACE WINNER: Velocity by Daniel MacDonald. Velocity equals distance over time. A simple equation until you are falling 73 stories from your office tower with your wife and daughter cheering you on. No matter how it tumbles, life's a circus, a carnival...or maybe just an overblown physics experiment.
2004 THIRD PLACE WINNER: I Can Cry by Miri Ben-Shalom. On May 7, 1945, on her 20th birthday, American troops gave Erna a wonderful gift... freedom. Now in her seventies, together with her 14-year-old younger-self, she re-lives her journey of endurance through the Holocaust. This theatrical documentary, with integrated documentary footage, tells the story of millions through one woman's poignant personal odyssey.
2003 CONTEST:
2003 FIRST PLACE WINNER (a tie): King Christina by Martha Kearns. She was young... she was brilliant... she was a King. A true story about King Christina of 17th century Sweden whose heroism challenged and conquered a divided Europe and whose faith changed the course of history.
2003 FIRST PLACE WINNER (a tie): Ruby's Story by Ron Osborne. June 1944, and the world is at war. On a small truck farm far away from the front lines, a war of another kind rages. Here, teenage Ruby relates her family's struggle -- and eventual victory -- over prejudice, self-loathing, delusion and fear.
2003 THIRD PLACE WINNER: Interview by Valerie Killigrew. Written from an absurdist perspective. Ilias Tride built an empire around things he realizes are irrelevant to happiness and is ready to abandon everything to an obsessive admirer who has come to interview for his position. The true scope of Ilias Tride's affliction is revealed, and in the end he is left questioning the worth of his very existence.
2003 FINALIST: Outburst by Leroy Clark
A gay high school teacher stands firm against the prejudice of his small-town-America community. He encounters hatred, prejudice and betrayal from those he believed in and loves. Through the struggle, he finds great inner strength and the courage to stand firm in the face of overwhelming adversity.
2003 FINALIST: The Turtle Gets There Too by Arni Ibsen. William Carlos Williams. Ezra Pound. Two different philosophical views explored over the course of 70 years in a script that leaves the audience questioning their deepest values.
2003 HONORABLE MENTION: Shades by Paula J. Caplan. A Vietnam War hero's sudden terminal illness compels his WW II hero father to question his patriotism and compels his antiwar sister to face the guilt over her veteran husband's suicide. The sister befriends a black female poet left paraplegic from a grenade in Viet-nam. They struggle for ways to help each other through their tragedies and into new life.
2003 HONORABLE MENTION: Cry Wolf by Deborah Mulhall. Nick "Wolf" Grey, world renowned war photojournalist, returns home to Sydney to be feted for his lifetime achievements. There he meets the daughter he didn't know he had who questions "what sort of person carries a camera and not a gun to a front line?" What are the ethical & moral responsibilities of those who bring us "the news."
2003 HONORABLE MENTION: German Look East by Connor Kerns. WWII is over. In a bombed out concentration camp Germans soldiers and Jewish prisoners depend on each other to stay alive, waiting for their liberators to arrive.
2003 HONORABLE MENTION: Penny Candy by Carmen Betancourt. War reaches into a little candy store in Queens as a Vietnam Vet clashes with the couple who are the store's new owners, Vietnamese boat people whose children died on the voyage to freedom. The husband, often delusional, believes his wife betrayed the family; the wife longs for normalcy while bound by the expectations of her cultural heritage. The three must come to terms with their demons to achieve a measure of peace. |
