- 2023-10-09
2012 New American Play Prizes
MARIN THEATRE COMPANY
ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF ITS
FIFTH ANNUAL NEW AMERICAN PLAY PRIZES
MARTÍN ZIMMERMAN’S SEVEN SPOTS ON THE SUN WON THE
2012 SKY COOPER NEW AMERICAN PLAY PRIZE AND
MEGHAN KENNEDY WON THE
2012 DAVID CALICCHIO EMERGING AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT PRIZE
Submission period for MTC’s 2013 play prizes open through August 31
MILL VALLEY, CA—Marin Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis is pleased to announce the winners of MTC’s two national new American play prizes, a program now in its fifth year. Seven Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman has won the 2012 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize and Meghan Kennedy has won the 2012 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize for her play Light. The winners were selected from 445 eligible submissions.
“The process of choosing the two winners from among so many outstanding submissions was difficult this year,” says Minadakis, who makes the final selections each year. “MTC is committed to a careful and thorough process, and, though it took longer than we expected, we are thrilled with the outcome. We were blown away by the excellence of the work coming from the two writers we’ve selected: Martín Zimmerman’s thrilling, epic storytelling and beautiful language caught us completely by surprise and Meghan Kennedy’s gorgeous visual landscape and heartfelt family drama was at times both uplifting and devastating. Though they both, by coincidence, recently completed the same graduate program, their imagination, originality and theatricality are wildly different but equally exciting.”
MTC is currently accepting submissions for the 2013 Sky Cooper and David Calicchio Prizes through August 31, 2012. Submission information, guidelines and online submission form can be found here.
The Sky Cooper New American Play Prize celebrates the work of the American playwright and encourages the creation of bold, powerful new plays for the American stage. MTC awards the Sky Cooper Prize annually to an outstanding unproduced play written by either an established or emerging American playwright. The winning play receives a developmental workshop and two staged readings as part of MTC’s New Works Series and is also considered under option for a full production as part of the theater’s annual main stage season. The playwright of the winning play receives a $10,000 award.
This year’s Sky Cooper Prize winner, Seven Spots on the Sun, is by Martín Zimmerman. His work has been produced or developed at the Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, the Playwrights’ Center, PlayPenn, Teatro Vista and Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, among others. A recipient of the Jerome Fellowship, National New Play Network’s Smith Prize and a Core Apprenticeship at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Zimmerman is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Duke University. Previous Sky Cooper winners include The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter, 9 Circles by Bill Cain (winner of the 2011 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award), Sunlight by Sharr White and Magic Forest Farm by Zayd Dohrn, nearly all of which received their world premieres at MTC.
In Seven Spots on the Sun, the village of San Isidro has been without its doctor, Moisés, for eighteen months. He has remained a recluse, refusing to even look at a patient, since the day the army took his wife away during the country’s civil war. But when a mysterious plague begins to ravage the countryside around San Isidro, Moisés discovers he has the power to heal with the touch of his hand and is forced to confront his past and the violence that tore the village apart.
The David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize honors David Calicchio’s lifelong career as a playwright and supports MTC’s commitment to the discovery and development of new and emerging American playwrights. MTC awards the Calicchio Prize annually to a professionally unproduced playwright for a new work that shows outstanding promise and a distinctive new voice for the American theatre. The winning playwright receives a $2,500 award. Their submitted play receives a developmental workshop and two staged readings as part of MTC’s New Works Series.
This year’s Calicchio Prize winner, Meghan Kennedy, has had her plays produced in Dublin, Ireland, New York City and Austin, Texas. Her play Too Much, Too Much, Too Many was featured at the 2012 PlayPenn Conference and she was Writer in Residence at the 2012 Cape Cod Theatre Project. She was a finalist for the 2011 PlayPenn Conference, 2011 Seven Devils Conference and 2011 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and a semi-finalist for 2012 P73 Playwriting Fellowship. She was named a 2010 Core Apprentice at the Playwrights’ Center and is currently a member of the P73 writing group, Interstate 73. Kennedy is a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Previous Callicchio Prize winners include That Good Night by Andrew Dolan, Lidless by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, Carthage by Emily Schwend and Blood / Money by A. Zell Williams, all of which received staged readings through MTC’s New Works Series.
In Light, all the men in Lyle’s family have been struck by lightning except him. His father, Gene, has never let him forget it. As another storm approaches, Lyle will be forced to choose between his legacy and his last chance with the only woman he’s ever loved.
The Sky Cooper Prize and Calicchio Prize are made possible through the generous support of Norton J. “Sky” Cooper.
BIOGRAPHIES OF MTC’S 2012 PLAY PRIZE WINNERS
Martin Zimmerman (Seven Spots on the Sun, 2012 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize) is a multi-ethnic, bilingual playwright whose plays include White Tie Ball, The Making of a Modern Folk Hero, Seven Spots on the Sun and The Solid Sand Below. His plays have been produced or developed at the Kennedy Center, Goodman Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, the Playwrights’ Center, Alliance Theatre, PlayPenn, American Theater Company, the Theatre @ Boston Court, Chicago Dramatists, Primary Stages, Teatro Vista, Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Theatre Row, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Borderlands Theater, Source Festival, the Gift, Red Tape, the University of Texas at Austin and Duke University, with upcoming projects at Icicle Creek Theatre Festival and A.C.T. A recipient of The Jerome Fellowship, the Carl Djerassi Playwriting Fellowship, National New Play Network’s Smith Prize and a Core Apprenticeship at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, Zimmerman was a member of the 2011-12 Playwrights’ Unit at Goodman Theatre, where he is currently under commission. He is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and has been a finalist for the Kendeda Competition and Heideman Award. He has an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Theater Studies and BS in Economics from Duke University.
Meghan Kennedy (Light, 2012 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize) has had her plays produced in Dublin, Ireland, New York City and Austin, Texas. Her play Too Much, Too Much, Too Many was featured at the 2012 PlayPenn Conference and she was Writer in Residence at the 2012 Cape Cod Theatre Project. She was a finalist for the 2011 PlayPenn Conference, 2011 Seven Devils Conference and 2011 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and a semi-finalist for 2012 P73 Playwriting Fellowship. She was named a 2010 Core Apprentice at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and is currently a member of the P73 writing group, Interstate 73. Kennedy recently received her MFA in Playwriting from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and her BFA in Dramatic Writing from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
ABOUT MTC
Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area’s premier mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season of provocative plays by passionate playwrights from the 20th century and today in our intimate 231-seat proscenium theater. We are committed to the development and production of new plays by American playwrights, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes at least one premiere each season, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards, new play readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging playwrights and a National New Play Network Playwright in Residence. Our numerous education programs serve more than 6,000 students each year. Founded in 1966.
PRESS CONTACT
Sasha Hnatkovich, Communications Director
(415) 388-5200, ext. 3313 | email
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