ADRIANA SEVAN AWARDED 2008 MIDDLE EAST AMERICA DISTINGUISHED PLAYWRIGHT AWARD
Broadway World
BWW News Desk
October 16, 2008
NY
The three theater organizations from across the nation, Golden Thread
Productions in San Francisco, the Lark Play Development Center in
New York, and Silk Road Theatre Project in Chicago, who formed Middle
East America (MEA): A National New Plays Initiative have awarded the
2008 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award to Adriana
Sevan. Additionally, due to the outstanding pool of applicants, MEA
has honored both Leila Buck and Sinan Unel with the 2008 Middle East
America Special Jury Prize.
The first of its kind, this prize provides a $10,000 commissionvfor
Sevan to write a new play, intensive developmental support from
the Lark, possible productions at Golden Thread and Silk Road, and
travel funds to be present at all stages of the process. According
to Lark Producing Director John Clinton Eisner, "Our nation’s energy
and innovation has often sprung from immigrant’s stories and global
perspectives, and this commission represents a new path for cultural
institutions learning to collaborate on building new repertoire
that more accurately mirrors and celebrates America’s ever-evolving
cultural landscape."
During the commissioned play’s development and production arc,
representatives of each partner organization will travel to each
city–Chicago, New York, and San Francisco–to observe the process and
to engage in public conversations and panel events about Middle Eastern
voices. Jury Prize awardees Buck and Unel will both receive $1,000
in recognition of the high quality of their writing and potential
contribution to the American theater. Sevan is an American artist of
Armenian, Dominican, and Basque ancestry; her one-woman show Taking
Flight, has been workshopped and performed at The Goodman Theatre,
Center Theatre Group, San Diego Repertory, South Coast Repertory,
and The Sundance Theatre Lab. About the award, Adriana says, "What
a blessing to have a trinity of theatres so committed to the heart
of my unwritten play, eager to share their wisdom and resources,
provide a nurturing community, and help the seeds of my story to grow."
About Sevan’s proposed new work, the Artistic Director of Silk
Road Theatre Project Jamil Khoury says, "This exciting first
commission promises to enrich the cannon of American theatre and our
understanding of Middle Eastern Americans. Adriana plans to conduct
research exploring themes of family, atrocity, migration, and memory,
including the untold stories of the Turkish Schindlers who helped
Armenians survive their Ottoman tormentors. The play is inspired
by Adriana’s grandparents who survived the Armenian genocide before
fleeing to the shores of New England."
Playwrights of Middle Eastern American heritage applied from all
over the U.S. and, according to Torange Yeghiazarian, Golden Thread
Artistic Director, "The quality of the proposals far exceeded our
expectations. The pool of readers highly recommended, to the final
selection committee, more playwrights than the Initiative can possibly
support in its first round. We hope that in the future we will be
able to award more than one commission."
The chosen playwrights were selected by: John Clinton Eisner (Lark
Producing Director), Jamil Khoury, and Torange Yeghiazarian. The
reading committee included a wide range of theatre artists and
managers: Suzy Fay, Malik Gillani, Kristin Horton, Isis Saratial
Misdary, Sonia Pabley, Jennifer Shook, Shilarna Stokes, Lloyd Suh,
Daniella Topol, and Tamilla Woodard.
For more information and application guidelines on Middle
East America: A National New Plays Initiative, visit:
Adriana Sevan, a native New Yorker, is an
award winning actress and playwright. Her critically acclaimed one
woman show, TAKING FLIGHT, has been thrilling audiences across the
country. It was recently awarded a 2007 San Diego Theatre Critics
Circle Award and is a finalist for a 2008 Audie Award for Best Solo
Narrative.
As a playwright, she has created, developed, and performed her work at
the Sundance Theatre Lab, South Coast Repertory, The Mark Taper Forum,
The Lark Play Development Center, INTAR, and Dixon Place. In 2006,
TAKING FLIGHT, had its world premiere at The Kirk Douglas Theatre,
produced by Michael Ritchie and Diane Rodriguez/Center Theatre
Group. The play was then recorded live with LA Theatre Works for a
nationwide broadcast, on Public Radio, for the series, "The Play’s The
Thing." TAKING FLIGHT has continued to have sold out runs at San Diego
Rep, The Fountain Theatre, and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Sevan
is about to begin a nine month playwriting residency, led by Pier
Carlo Talenti, at The Mark Taper Forum. As an actress, she has just
completed a film called HARVEST, opposite Barbara Barrie and Robert
Loggia. She has appeared in multiple guest-starring roles on TV,
including "The Unit," "Law & Order," "Sex & the City," "Deadline,"
"Dellaventura," and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." Onstage, her
theatre credits include work at South Coast Repertory, Yale Rep,
Coconut Grove Playhouse, LA Theatre Works, The Public Theater,
Classic Stage Company, Shakespeare & Company, ACT, and HERE.
She currently guest teaches at CAL ARTS, and leads transformational
workshops for at risk girls using creative writing, improvisation,
and personal myth-making as tools for girls to discover and express
their vibrant, vital, and unique voices. GOLDEN THREAD PRODUCTIONS
is dedicated to theatre that explores Middle Eastern cultures and
identities as represented throughout the globe. Our mission is to
build an organization that consistently produces the highest quality
theatre about Middle Eastern culture and to establish a dynamic
artistic community and an expanding audience. And to make the Middle
East a regular part of the American Theatre Experience and make
theatre a regular part of the Middle Eastern community’s cultural
experience. Golden Thread Productions is led by Artistic Director,
Torange Yeghiazarian. For more information:
A laboratory for new voices and new ideas, the LARK PLAY DEVELOPMENT
CENTER provides playwrights with indispensable resources to develop
their work. The Lark brings together actors, directors, playwrights
and the community to allow writers to learn about their own work by
seeing and hearing it, and by receiving feedback from a dedicated
and supportive community. The company reaches into untapped local
populations and across international boundaries to seek outand embrace
unheard voices and diverse perspectives, celebrating differences
in language and worldviews. The Lark also plays a leading role
in advancing unknown writers and their works to audiences through
carefully stewarded partnerships with a host of theaters, universities,
community-based organizations, and NGOs, locally, nationally and
globally. The Lark is led by Producing Director, John Clinton Eisner
and Managing Director, Michael Robertson. For more information:
SILK ROAD THEATRE PROJECT showcases playwrights of Asian, Middle
Eastern, and Mediterranean backgrounds, whose works address
themes relevant to the peoples of the Silk Road and their Diaspora
communities. Through the creation and presentation of outstanding
theatre, we aim to promote discourse and dialogue among multi-cultural
audiences in Chicago. Silk Road Theatre Project is led by Artistic
Director, Jamil Khoury and Executive Director, Malik Gillani. For
more information:
www.middleeastamerica.org.
www.goldenthread.org.
www.larktheatre.org.
www.srtp.org.