ATLANTA: The Alliance Theatre has announced the winner of its annual Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, which recognizes an emerging playwright. The winner is Too Heavy For Your Pocket by Jireh Breon Holder, which will be given a world premiere at the Alliance, Feb. 4-26.

In addition, there will be staged readings of the four competition finalists: Borealis by Ben Fisher, My Lover Joan by Emily Feldman, Moonlight by the Bayou by Lindsey Ferrentino, and Space Girl by Mora V. Harris.

Holder has also won the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, which will support a second production of Too Heavy for Your Pocket at the Roundabout Theater Company in New York.

The Kendeda competition is given to final-year candidates currently in graduate playwriting programs around the country. Past winners include Tarell Alvin McCraney, Mike Lew, Meg Miroshnik, Marcus Gardley, and Madhuri Shekar.