David Hare Announces The Winner of 2010 Yale Drama Series Award

English playwright David Hare has selected blu by Virginia Grise as the 2010 winner of the annual Yale Drama Series competition. The runners-up are Siona MacDuff by Mary Hamilton and Nineteen Kinds of Peril by Tom Lavignino.

The Yale Drama Series is jointly sponsored by Yale University Press and Yale Repertory Theatre and generous support from the David C. Horn Foundation.

Playwright Virginia Grise will be awarded the David C. Horn Prize of $10,000. blu will be published by Yale University Press and receive a reading at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven in September. Chosen from 960 submissions, blu is about a Mexican American family's response to the loss of their oldest son in Iraq.

Virginia Grise, a native of San Antonio, is a Chicana cultural worker, writer, performer, and teacher. Her work has been performed internationally, at venues including the Jose Marti Catedra in Havana, Cuba and The University of Butare in Rwanda, Africa. Her published writing includes The Panza Monologues and an edited volume of Zapatista communiqués entitled Conversations with Don Durito.

About this year's winner and finalists, David Hare said, "This is my second year as judge of the Yale Drama Series. There were 960 submissions from all over the English-speaking world. The winning play blu is about the response of a Mexican American family to the loss of their oldest son in Iraq. Virginia Grise's writing is blazingly talented and resonant and the play stays with you long after you've read it. In second place I was happy to put Mary Hamilton's delightful Canadian comedy Siona MacDuff, a strikingly original work about teenage anxieties and friendships. It's sexy, funny and true. And in third place I also greatly admired Tom Lavignino's Nineteen Kinds of Peril, a series of interlocking monologues about life in an American retail chain store. It was refreshing to read such a talented and painful play about a regular workplace."

Hare also paid tribute to the colleagues who contributed to the selection process: "I was helped this year by a reading panel consisting of Nicolas Wright, playwright and ex-Literary Manager of the National Theatre; Jeremy Herrin, Associate Director of The Royal Court Theatre; Amelia Sears, Director; Jane Fallowfield, ex-Literary Manager of the Bush Theatre; Emily McCloughlin, Artistic Associate at The Royal Court Theatre; Peter Ansorge, ex-Head of Drama at Channel 4; Tony Bicat, Playwright and Director; and Barney Norris, Director. This was an extraordinarily experienced and diligent group to tackle such a huge task. I am in their debt."

Hare went on to say, "Next year I hand over to a new judge. Before I do, I would like to mention that I gave last year's prize to Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig for Lidless. This year there is another female winner. Of the twelve plays on this year's short-list, nine were written by women. As a result of reading such a huge sample of new playwriting, I feel we have at last reached a tipping point. Women's writing for the theatre is stronger and more eloquent than it has ever been. Everyone working on this prize hopes to see that strength reflected in the repertory of theatres everywhere."

David Hare also served as the judge for the 2009 Yale Drama Series competition, selecting Lidless by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. Edward Albee was the inaugural judge and selected The Boys from Siam by John Connolly in 2007 and Grenadine by Neil Wechsler in 2008. The judge for the 2011 competition will be announced shortly.

Subsequent to winning the Yale Drama Series, Neil Wechsler's Grenadine debuted last year in Buffalo at the Road Less Traveled Theatre, and Ya-Chu Cowhig Lidless will debut this spring at High Tide Festival in the UK.

YALE DRAMA SERIES

Submissions for the 2011 Yale Drama Series competition must be postmarked no earlier than June 1, 2010 and no later than August 15, 2010. The competition is open to any original, unpublished, and unproduced full-length play in English. For complete contest rules, please visit www.dchornfoundation.org

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Founded in 1908, Yale University Press is one of the largest and most distinguished American university presses. It publishes over 320 books a year in a wide range of disciplines, including history, literature, drama, art and architecture, American studies, philosophy, politics, religion, reference, music, and the sciences. www.yalebooks.com

Yale Repertory Theatre

A champion of new work, Yale Repertory Theatre has produced well over 100 world, American, and regional premieres-including two Pulitzer Prize winners and four other nominated finalists-by emerging and established playwrights.

Eleven Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering more than 40 Tony Award® nominations and eight Tony Awards, and Yale Rep itself is the recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. In its 44-year history, Yale Repertory Theatre has produced the world premieres of plays by David Adjmi, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Lee Blessing, Bill Camp, Maggie-Kate Coleman, Christopher Durang, Jules Feiffer, Athol Fugard, Marcus Gardley,
Kama Ginkas, Rinne Groff, John Guare, Albert Innuarato, Anna K. Jacobs, Walton Jones, Adrienne Kennedy, Arthur Kopit, Sunil Thomas Kuruvilla, Wendy MacLeod, Julie McKee, Terrence McNally, Richard Nelson, Suzan-Lori Parks, David Rabe, Keith Reddin, José Rivera, Sarah Ruhl, Sam Shepard, William Styron, Derek Walcott, August Wilson, RoBert Woodruff, and Doug Wright, among many others. www.yalerep.org

THE David Charles HORN FOUNDATION

The David Charles Horn Foundation was established in 2003 by Francine Horn to honor the memory of her late husband. David Horn was the publisher and CEO of Here & There, the leading international forecasting and reporting publication for the fashion industry. Ms. Horn created the Foundation to support new initiatives in the literary and dramatic arts to commemorate her husband's lifetime commitment to the written word. www.dchornfoundation.org

Photo credit: Walter McBride