17th Annual Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award
Winner: Carlos Murillo
Chicago-based playwright Carlos Murillo is the Otis Guernsey New Voices in American Playwriting Award at the 28th annual William Inge Theatre Festival April 22-25, in Independence, Kansas.
Murillo will receive the honor and a reading of one of his newest plays on April 23 as part of the four-day event, which celebrates Festival Honorees Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.
The Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award recognizes contemporary playwrights whose voices are helping shape the American theater of today. It is named for the late Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., beloved theater writer and editor who was a frequent guest at the William Inge Theatre Festival and a champion of exciting new plays.
Murillo will receive the award, an honorarium, and a concert reading of one of his plays Thursday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. The Festival takes place at the William Inge Theatre at Independence Community College (ICC), Independence, Kansas. The concert reading is of "Diagram of an Airplane," commissioned by the Goodman Theatre of Chicago, and will feature a professional director and cast of special guest artists.
The award recipient is selected by a panel comprised of past Otis Guernsey New Voices winners and other theatre professionals, and peer-nominated.
Murillo grew up in New York, Caracas, Venezuela, and Bogota, Colombia. His plays have been produced nationwide, at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, En Garde Arts and Soho Rep in New York, Theatre at Boston Court in Pasadena, Actors Express in Atlanta, and elsewhere.
Murillo was a Jerome Fellow at the Minneapolis Playwrights' Center and has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
He is a two-time recipient of the National Latino Playwriting Award, among many additional honors. He teaches playwriting and performance at The Theatre School of DePaul University in Chicago.
The Inge Festival opens Wed. April 22 with a performance of several one-acts by William Inge. The guest director for the "lost" short plays is Karen Carpenter, former associate artistic director of the San Diego Old Globe Theatre.
The reading of Murillo's play takes place on Thursday April 24. The next evening, there will be a Gala Dinner, featuring a gourmet meal, silent auction of theatre memorabilia and musical performances by guest artists.
The Inge Festival culminates Sat. April 25 with a multi-media Tribute to Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, creators of "The Fantasticks" and many other musicals. Tom Jones will be present to receive the William Inge Theatre Festival's Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award.
During the daytime, the guest actors, writers, directors and designers will conduct workshops and panels, all open to student sand the general public.
The William Inge Center for the Arts is named for the late William Inge, an Independence native and alumnus of ICC who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama ("Picnic") and Oscar for Best Screenplay ("Splendor in the Grass.")
Tickets will be available on line starting March 1 at www.ingecenter.org or by calling (800) 842-6063 ext. 5835.
The Inge Center and William Inge Theatre Festival are supported in part by grants from the Kansas Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, Hallmark Corporation, the William T. Kemper FoundationóCommerce Bank, Trustee and the Dramatists Guild Fund of New York City.