Cori Thomas Wins M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award for When January Feels Like Summer

Cori Thomas has won the 2011 M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award, given out by The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA), for her play, When January Feels Like Summer. The award will be presented in a ceremony on April 2 at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, KY.

In the play, Thomas stirs together a diverse group of urban dwellers on an atypically warm winter month: a middle-aged African American sanitation worker, an East Indian shopkeeper whose husband from a loveless marriage is in a coma, her brother in the midst of a transgender transformation, and two bright homeboys trying to understand everything from global warming to meeting girls. All are on a quest for the healing power of true love, a mythic journey presided over by the Hindu god Ganesh, lord of the removal of obstacles.

When January Feels Like Summer premiered in March 2010 at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, directed by Chuck Patterson. Thomas’ other plays include His Daddy; Pa’s Hat: Liberian Legacy; our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, and My Secret Language of Wishes.

The Osborn Award is designed to recognize the work of an author who has not yet achieved national stature, and was established in 1993 to honor the memory of Theatre Communications Group and American Theatre play editor M. Elizabeth Osborn. It carries a $1,000 prize, funded by the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association.

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