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The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) announced the six plays which are finalists for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. The honor, which recognizes the best scripts which premiered professionally outside New York City during 2009, will be presented March 27 at Actors Theatre of Louisville during the Humana Festival of New American Plays. The award includes a commemorative plaque and $25,000. In addition to the New Play Award, two citations are will also be presented, carrying prizes of $7,500 each.

The finalists include two plays currently on stage in New York: Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still, which had its premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and is now running at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway and Bill Cain's Equivocation, which premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and is currently being presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center - Stage I.

Playwright Michele Lowe has two plays which are finalists: Ilana, which debuted at the Denver Center Theatre Company, and Victoria Musica, which was first seen at the Cincinnati Playhouse. The other finalists are Karen Zacharias' Legacy of Light, which was seen at Arena Stage in early 2009; and Jason Wells' Perfect Mendacity, which bowed at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota.

For further information, visit: www.americantheatrecritics.org.