NEW YORK: The Playwrights Realm has named the inaugural recipients of the International Theatremakers Award, which will offer free legal assistance for the O-1B Artist Visa process. The five awarded artists are Alexandra Vásquez Dheming, Danilo Gambini, Omar Madkour, Jeton Neziraj, and Cha See.

Vásquez Dheming is a Salvadoran lighting designer based in New York. She is the 2020-21 lighting design mentee at Wingspace Theatrical Design.

Gambini is a director from São Paulo, Brazil. He is a directing fellow at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and a member of the 2020-21 Roundabout Directors Group.

Madkour is a lighting designer from Cairo, Egypt whose work has been produced in Germany, Belgium, Egypt, the U.K., and the U.S. He is the lighting director at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, where he is responsible for all exhibition spaces.

Neziraj is a playwright from Kosovo who previously served as the artistic director of the National Theatre of Kosovo. He is the winner of the 2020 Europe Culture Award, and his work has been translated into over 15 languages. Neziraj is the director of Qendra Multimedia.

See is a designer from Manila, Philippines who boasts numerous Off-Broadway and regional credits. Her work was also exhibited at the Prague Quadrennial in 2019.

The award is a partnership between the Playwrights Realm and Dyer Harris LLP, a New York-based law firm that focuses on immigration for artists and creative professionals. The Playwrights Realm will host a panel on what nonprofit organizations need to know to work with international artists on Feb. 11.