2014 SUSAN SMITH BLACKBURN PRIZE

AWARDED TO LUCY KIRKWOOD for CHIMERICA

PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS
PRESENTED BY PHYLLIDA LLOYD.


lucy kirkwood

Lucy Kirkwood

Chimerica” is a three-hour drama about Chinese-American relations, “Chimerica” tells the story of an American photojournalist and the subject of his famous photo of a protester in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Writing about the show from London last year, Ben Brantley called it a “fleet-footed” play that “considers the elusive nature of heroism, the short-sightedness of the best intentions, the changing role of news photography and the parallel inequities of two ostensibly very different governments.” The play transferred to the West End in August after receiving mostly positive reviews when it was co-produced by the Almeida Theater and Headlong.

The 2014 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to Lucy Kirkwood for her play Chimerica. On February 25th at a ceremony in London the award of $25,000 and a signed print by the artist Willem de Kooning was presented by the director Phyllida Lloyd.

In addition to Ms. Kirkwood’s prize, a special commendation and a $5,000 award was given to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for her first play, “Fleabag.” The finalists for the main prize, chosen from over 100 plays, included the playwrights Caroline Bird, Sheila Callaghan, Alexandra Collier, Lauren Gunderson, Joanna Murray-Smith, Lucy Prebble, Theresa Rebeck and Beth Steel. Each receives an award of $2,500.

The judges for this year’s Blackburn prizes were Ms. Lloyd, who directed the all-female “Julius Caesar” that played in New York last year; the playwright Simon Stephens (“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”); Wendy C. Goldberg, the artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; and the actors Jim Parsons, Jessica Hecht and Lia Williams.

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Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Contacts:
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This page last revised 19th February 2014