PRESS RELEASE
September 8, 2007
Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance
20 Concord Lane, Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact: Zoe Kevork
(818) 415-9848
RICHARD KALINOWSKI WINS $10,000 ADAA/PAUL AWARD
by Zoe Kevork
On August 19th, 2007, the inaugural Paul Award was handed out as part of the
festivities marking the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance Second Annual
Celebrity Gala.
The three finalists were Mamigon’s War by Bill Hoversten, A Crooked Man by
Richard Kalinowski, and Three Apples Fell from Heaven by Jose Rivera. All
the finalists were present at the Gala.
The $10,000 prize went to Richard Kalinowski for A Crooked Man. Mr.
Kalinowski had traveled from Utah, where he had been conducting playwriting
workshops despite a serious back injury. A Crooked Man play is about Hagop
Hagopian, an assassin in his youth and now a very old man, facing the
likelihood of moving to a nursing home after the death of his beloved wife.
His callow grandson comes to visit him with the intention of writing a story
about him.
The Paul Award is a $10,000 prize, established by the Lillian and Varnum
Paul Family, for the best screenplay or theatrical script based on an
Armenian theme. The award was facilitated by the Western Diocese of the
Armenian Church and His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, and
administered by the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance.
The winner of the Paul Award was announced by award-winning actress Karen
Kondazian and Ara Najarian, Mayor of the City of Glendale. Ms. Kondazian,
daughter of Lillian and Varnum Paul, was particularly moved to make the
award presentation on behalf of her parents. In her remarks, Ms. Kondazian
quoted William Saroyan’s advice to a young writer: "Take chances. You will
succeed if you are fearless of failure. In your writing and in your life you
will many times see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think."
She continued to comment that all three finalists had heeded Saroyan’s
advice and jumped, resulting in three beautiful scripts.
All scripts were read by a panel of judges before the final three scripts
were reviewed by the prestigious Honorary Jury, which included Michael
Goorjian, Emmy Award winning actor and director/producer/writer; Simon Levy,
Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre; Anahid Nazarian, producer for
Zoetrope/Francis Ford Coppola; and Steven Zallian, Oscar-winning
screenwriter. Both Simon Levy and Anahid Nazarian were present at the Gala.
The Paul Award will hereafter be administered biennially by the Armenian
Dramatic Arts Alliance, with the next competition in 2009. Contest
Administrator Kristen Lazarian commented, "We were very pleased with the
success of the inaugural Paul Contest, and look forward to the 2009
competition, at which time the contest will focus only on screenplays based
upon Armenian themes."
In 2008, to mark William Saroyan’s 100th birthday, the ADAA will also be
administering the $10,000 Saroyan Prize for Playwriting, for plays based on
Armenian themes. The deadline for submitting to the competition is February
15th, 2008. Contest guidelines and rules can be found at the ADAA website,
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
