NEW YORK CITY: The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced the 10 finalists for its playwriting prize, the oldest and largest prize awarded to female playwrights writing in the English language.
The finalists, selected from more than 150 nominated plays, are Alice Birch, Anatomy of a Suicide; Elinor Cook, Out of Love; Fiona Doyle, The Strange Death of John Doe; Alesha Harris, Is God Is; Colleen Murphy, The Breathing Hole; Antoinette Nwandu, Pass Over; Nina Raine, Consent; Anusree Roy, Trident Moon; Tori Sampson, If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka; and Lauren Yee, The Great Leap.
The international panel of judges for 2017-18 includes Annie Baker, Carrie Cracknell, Denise Gough, Rajiv Joseph, Justine Mitchell, and Phylicia Rashad.
The winner will be announced in March and will receive a cash prize of $25,000. In addition, the winner will be given a signed print by Willem de Kooning created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Each additional finalist will take home a $5,000 award.
The Houston-based Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is named after American actor and writer Susan Smith Blackburn, who grew up in Houston and lived in London for the last 15 years of her life. Since the award’s inception in 1977, more than 350 playwrights have been honored as finalists.
