- 2023-10-08
Marin Theatre Company Announces 2016 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize & David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize Winners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2017
MARIN THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES
SARAH DELAPPE AS THE 2016 SKY COOPER NEW AMERICAN PLAY PRIZE WINNER
AND JAISEY BATES AS THE 2016 DAVID CALICCHIO EMERGING AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT PRIZE WINNER
MILL VALLEY, CA—Marin Theatre Company is proud to announce Sarah DeLappe as the 2016 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize winner for her play The Wolves—which will be playing on the MTC mainstage in March 2018—and Jaisey Bates as the 2016 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize winner for her play The Day We Were Born. Now in its tenth year, MTC's two new play prizes continue to celebrate the work of the American playwright and encourage the creation of bold, powerful new voices and plays for the American stage.
Norton J. “Sky” Cooper established the New American Play Prize at MTC in 2007 to celebrate the work of the American playwright and to encourage the creation of bold, powerful new voices and plays for the American stage. The Sky Cooper Prize is awarded annually to either an established or emerging playwright for an outstanding new work. Ms. DeLappe’s The Wolves—which was also just announced as a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama—will receive a $10,000 award in addition to its upcoming West Coast premiere production at MTC as part of its 2017-18 mainstage season.
Sarah Delappe is thrilled to receive the 2016 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize
“It's an incredible honor to receive the Sky Cooper New American Play Prize. I'm delighted by Jasson and the entire staff's passionate belief in the play, and am very excited to work with them and [director] Morgan Green on the West Coast premiere.”
Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves
In an indoor soccer field in suburban Middle America, the Wolves all-girl high school team prepares for the upcoming College Showcase, and every point counts. But between the sprints and drills, these strong, fiercely loyal young women must navigate even trickier terrain: the emotional path from adolescence to adulthood. Powerfully and intimately rendered, The Wolves, by Sarah DeLappe, is a 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of MTC’s 2016 Sky Cooper Prize.
More about Sarah DeLappe
Sarah DeLappe’s play The Wolves premiered off-Broadway at The Playwrights Realm at The Duke on 42nd St, following an engagement with New York Stage and Film, and development with Clubbed Thumb and The Great Plains Theater Conference. The Wolves won the American Playwriting Foundation’s inaugural Relentless Award and Marin Theatre Company's Sky Cooper New American Play Prize; it was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Yale Prize. She was also a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama. She is currently a Page One Writer at The Playwrights Realm, a Resident Writer at LCT3, and a member of Ars Nova Play Group. She is an alumnae of Clubbed Thumb Early Career Writers Group, the New Georges Audrey Residency, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and Sitka Fellows Program. She teaches at NYU Tisch's Playwrights Horizons Theater School. MFA, Brooklyn College.
Norton J. “Sky” Cooper also established the Emerging American Playwright Prize award at MTC in 2007 in honor of David Calicchio’s lifelong career as a playwright and in support of MTC’s commitment to the discovery and development of new and emerging American playwrights. The Calicchio Prize is awarded annually to a professionally unproduced playwright for a new work that shows outstanding promise and a distinctive new voice for the American theatre. Ms. Bates’ The Day We Were Born will receive two public staged readings at Marin Theatre Company as part of the theatre’s annual New Play Reading Series. The playwright will receive a $2,500 award, as well as travel and accommodations for the MTC rehearsal period (25 hours).
Jaisey Bates is honored to receive the 2016 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize
“I can’t express what meeting you all [at MTC] did for me. It changed my life. I went from being completely alone and wondering if all of these words were worthy of anyone other than me, to having everyone at MTC welcome me. Thank you.”
Jaisey Bates’ The Day We Were Born
On the same day, in the northernmost city of the U.S., two whales are freed and two Iñupiaq boys are born, Qilalugak and Benny. Raised as brothers within a culture and climate in crisis, the boys join the Alaskan National Guard in high school and are called for active duty in Iraq right after graduation. From the freezing Arctic Circle to the sweltering deserts of the Middle East, the past and the present coexist in a race against time to bring everyone together before it’s too late. A play about whales and words and wars, what it means to be human and how we can find our way home.
More about Jaisey Bates
Jaisey Bates, a misplaced Maine-iac in LA, writes and performs with her nomadic multicultural theater company, The Peoplehood (the-peoplehood.com). LA/NYC development/performance venues for her words have included the Agüeybaná Book Store, Art/Works, Eclectic, EST/LA, Lounge, Naked Angels, Native Voices at the Autry, Open Fist, Performance Loft, Playwrights' Center Stage, Samuel French Bookshop, Studio/Stage, Unknown and Victory theaters. Her words have also enjoyed road trips to several states and teleportation to Canada and the UK. Her plays include The Day We Were Born (finalist, 2017 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference; awarded Marin Theatre Company’s 2016 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize; Judge’s Choice/Featured Play, Oklahoma City Theatre Company’s 2016 Native American New Play Festival) and Real Time, her fancy-dance variation on Whitman's Leaves of Grass, an ever-evolving multitude of mix-and-match one-act/mini plays and spoken word pieces (recent journeys: #AfterOrlandoPlays international theater action and forthcoming publication; Arizona State University’s 2017 RED INK Initiative: Indigenous Cultural Series for Teens; Little Black Dress INK’s Inauguration Day 2017: We're Not Playing!; Landing Theatre’s 2016Redemption Series: in response to crisis in America). Education includes Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (BSFS), American University in Cairo (Fellowship, Johns Hopkins SAIS/Fulbright) and Loyola Marymount University (MA in English).
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 focused on new American plays, and a Family Series. We are committed to the development and production of new plays, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards and readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging and established playwrights. Our numerous education programs serve more than 12,000+ students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC strives to create intimate, powerful and emotional experiences that engage audiences to discuss new ideas and adopt a broader point of view. We believe in taking risks and inspiring people to participate in live theater, regardless of personal means. MTC celebrates the intellectual curiosity of our community, and we believe that theater is an important tool to help build empathy. MTC was founded in 1966 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
PRESS CONTACT
Sara Waugh, Director of Marketing & Communications
(415) 322-6022 | saraw@marintheatre.org
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