John Austin Connolly Wins Yale’s David C. Horn Prize

Irish playwright John Austin Connolly has won the first David C. Horn Prize, presented by the Yale Drama Series, for The Boys from Siam, based loosely on the lives of Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker. Pulitzer Prize-winner playwright Edward Albee, who presented Connolly with the award this evening, chose the work from more than 500 selections.

As the winner of the competition, Connolly receives a $10,000 cash prize, publication of the play by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Yale Repertory Theater. A citizen of Dublin, Connolly is a retired clinical psychologist.

Two runners-up were also named by Albee: Colin McKenna’s The Secret Agenda of Trees and Lazarre Seymour Simckes’ Open Rehearsal. Albee will also judge next year’s competition.