PRESS RELEASE: Call for Submissions for Francesca Primus Prize

Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Call for Submissions for Francesca Primus Prize

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Call for Submissions for the Francesca Primus Prize

The deadline date for 2015 is April 30.

The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) is inviting submissions for the 2015 Francesca Primus Prize, an annual $10,000 award honoring outstanding contributions to the American theater by an emerging female playwright (one who has not achieved national prominence).

Administered by ATCA, the prize is made possible through the generosity of the Francesca Ronnie Primus Foundation and honors the writer, critic, performer, dramaturg, and cherished ATCA member who died at 42 of lung cancer in 1992. 

The Primus Prize operates on an open submission basis—an applicant may submit herself or be nominated by another individual or organization. Members of ATCA are also eligible to nominate or provide letters of recommendation. 

To qualify for consideration in 2015, a playwright must have had a fully staged, professional production of her script within the calendar year 2014. The committee also considers the applicant's body of work going back several years. 

A submission must take the form of a portfolio of no more than 20 single-sided pages. It should include a letter recommending the candidate, a synopsis of her body of work, and supporting materials sufficient to familiarize the committee with her achievement, possibly including reviews and/or a statement of the artist's philosophy. In addition (beyond those 20 pages), playwrights should also submit the produced playscript. If more than one play was produced in 2014, only one may be submitted, but excerpts from or reviews of others may be part of the portfolio. Portfolios (including scripts) will not be returned. 

(NOTE that in some previous years, theater artists other than playwrights were invited to apply. For 2015, only playwrights will be considered, although other theater work may be described as part of the applicant's body of work.)

The winner is announced at a national ATCA conference and will receive her check shortly thereafter. The recipient is then invited to a subsequent ATCA conference (expenses paid) for a small recognition ceremony.

To apply, applicants should send one paper copy of their portfolio—excluding the script—along with a processing fee of $25 to ATCA, c/o Barry Gaines, 12809 Northern Sky NE, Albuquerque NM 87111-8089. Checks should be made payable to ATCA.

Then send the same portfolio by e-mail as a single attachment, and the produced playscript as a separate attachment, to Barry Gaines at bjgaines@unm.edu. Put Primus Prize in the subject line. If you don't have the portfolio or the script in electronic form, please send five paper copies of everything instead. If you have questions, e-mail Barry or call him at (505) 856-2101.

Send any other inquiries to Primus Prize chair Barbara Bannon, Salt Lake City, bbannon@xmission.com; or to ATCA chair Jonathan Abarbanel, Chicago, jonnyatca@earthlink.net.

ATCA was founded in 1974 and works to raise critical standards and public awareness of critics' functions and responsibilities and to recognize excellence in the American theater. The only national association of professional theater critics—with several hundred members working for newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, and websites—ATCA is the U.S. national section of the International Association of Theatre Critics, a UNESCO-affiliated organization that sponsors seminars and congresses worldwide.

ATCA also presents the $40,000 Steinberg/ATCA Awards, which recognize the best plays that premiere professionally outside New York City during each calendar year, and the M. Elizabeth Osborn Award, honoring emerging playwrights.

Annually ATCA makes a recommendation for the Regional Theater Tony Award, presented by the American Theatre Wing/Broadway League, and its members vote on inductions into the Theater Hall of Fame. For more information on ATCA, visit www.americantheatrecritics.org

Previous Primus Winners 

2014—Jennifer Haley, playwright, The Nether

2013—Stefanie Zadravec, playwright, The Electric Baby;

            special commendation to director Lear deBessonet

2012—Tammy Ryan, playwright, Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods;

special commendation to Dominique Morisseau for Follow Me to Nellie's

2011—Caridad Svich, playwright, The House of the Spirits

2010—Michele Lowe, playwright, Inana

2009—Jamie Pachino, playwright, Splitting Infinity;

citations to playwrights Jennifer Haley, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, and Kathryn Walat, Bleeding Kansas

2008—EM (Ellen) Lewis, playwright, Heads

2007—Victoria Stewart, playwright, Hardball

2006—Karen Zacarías, playwright, Mariela in the Desert, and founder/artistic director,

            Young Playwrights' Theater, Washington, D.C.

2005—Michelle Hensley, artistic director, Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company,

            Minneapolis, MN.

2004—Lynn Nottage, playwright, Intimate Apparel

2002—Alexandra Cunningham, playwright, Pavane

2001—S. M. Shepard-Massat, playwright, Some Place Soft to Fall

2000—Brooke Berman, playwright, Playing House

1999—Melanie Marnich, playwright, Blur

1998—Brooke Berman, playwright, Wonderland

1997—Julia Jordan, playwright, Tatjana in Color