$10,000 SAROYAN PLAYWRITING COMPETITION FINALISTS ANNOUNCED
by Zoe Kevork
AZG Armenian Daily #091
14/05/2008
Culture
The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance (ADAA) is pleased to announce the
three finalists of the inaugural William Saroyan Prize for Playwriting:
Nadia by Lilly Thomassian, Flesh and Tenderness by Kristen Lazarian
and The Living and the Dead by Matthew "Yazo" Yaldezian.
Play submissions were received from across the United States, the UK
and Armenia. Entries were required to be full-length plays written
in English and based on Armenian themes. The plays were required
to have a professional production or reading prior to submission,
which resulted in high quality entries.
First round judges were Claire Cox, playwright and writing instructor
at the Gotham Academy in New York; Enrique Urueta, playwright
and former literary manager at Impact Theatre in San Francisco;
Landon Vaughn, actor, writer and producer; Tanya Yerevanian, actor,
writer and graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London;
and David Grillo, actor, writer and producer of the off-Broadway
production of Beast on the Moon.
The three finalist plays will be evaluated by an honorary jury
including Leslie Ayvazian, award-winning playwright and Professor
of Playwriting at Columbia University; Deborah Salzer, playwriting
educator and founder of The Playwrights Project; and, Mac Wellman,
Lifetime Obie-award winning playwright and the Donald I. Fine Professor
of Play Writing at Brooklyn College.
The winner will be announced at the ADAA’s 3rd Annual Celebrity
Gala on Saturday, August 23, 2008, which will be held at the Stars
Palace Theatre in Glendale, CA. The winner will be honored with a
$10,000 award.
Tickets are available at
The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance’s mission is to make the Armenian
voice heard on the world stage through the dramatic arts of theatre
and film. The organization accomplishes this mission by supporting
playwrights and screenwriters and providing production opportunities,
research tools, networking resources and writing awards. In addition
to the William Saroyan Prize for Playwriting, the ADAA administers
the $10,000 Lillian and Varnum Paul Prize for Screenwriting, the
deadline for which is February 15, 2009.
For more information about ADAA, its activities and how to
contribute to its important mission, please visit the website at
or call at 617.871.6764