Get an inside look at the 45th Anniversary event for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize with the photo gallery below. The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions of written work by women, trans, and non-binary playwrights. This year's winner is Sarah Mantell, who won for their play In The Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot at Playwrights Horizons. Mantell is the first out non-binary recipient of the award.
In The Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot was nominated by Playwright Horizons, who also commissioned the play. The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation supported the commission with a grant, and the play was also developed through residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Hedgebrook. This year's panel of judges included past Blackburn Prize winner Julia Cho, director Rebecca Frecknall, director-choreographer Raja Feather Kelly, producer Eleanor Lloyd, performer-director-writer Lucian Msamati, and performer Amy Ryan.
Finalists for the honor were Anupama Chandrasekhar's The Father and the Assassin, Maryam Hamidi's Moonset, Karen Hartman's New Golden Age, Katie Holly's Her Hand on the Trellis, Kimber Lee's saturday, a.k. payne's Amani, Francisca Da Silveira's Pay No Worship, Zadie Smith's The Wife of Willesden, and Ruby Thomas's Linck & Mülhahn.
See photos from the anniversary celebration below.
Raja Feather Kelly, Lucian Msamati, Lekan Lawal, and Indhu Rubasingham
Todd London, Teresa Eyring, Jonathan Mc Crory, Tim Sanford, and Aimee Hayes
Gina Gionfriddo and Roger Danforth
Raja Feather Kelly, Lekan Lawal, and Julie Kelleher
Sarah Mantell, Sarah Ruhl, Constance Kilgore, Alex Kilgore, and Sally Horchow
Sarah Ruhl, Todd London, and Philip London
Sarah Ruhl, Mark Bly, Todd London, Philip London, and Skyler Grey
