Dartmouth College's 2020 Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting goes to Deborah Yarchun for her play Drive, about truckers who lose their jobs to self-driving vehicles. The first-place prize includes a $5,000 honorarium and a reading at Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont, during the 2020–2021 season.
While the award is normally given to one playwright, a second-place prize was also awarded this year, to Override by Elizabeth Keel, which comes with a $750 honorarium.
“I was floored and delighted by the overwhelming number of submissions for this year’s award,” said Dan Rockmore, director of the Neukom Institute. “In a time when so many artists are struggling, we are glad to be able to support even more playwrights by offering two awards this year.”
Drive and Override will both have remotely-staged readings with Dartmouth’s VoxFest this summer. The playwrights will also have the opportunity to work with members of Dartmouth’s Department of Theater.
The Neukom Awards honor works that align with the institute’s mission to explore the computational science and its impact on society.
