Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Announces 2022 Finalists
(Image provided by DKC/O&M)
Ten finalists have been announced for the 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize — the oldest and largest prize awarded to women playwrights.
The finalists and their plays are as follows:
• Chiara Atik (US) – Poor Clare
• Daniella De Jesús (US) – Get Your Pink Hands Off Me Sucka and Give Me Back (FKA Columbus Play)
• Sarah Hanly (Ireland) – Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks
• Zora Howard (US) – BUST
• Sonya Kelly (Ireland) – The Last Return
• Benedict Lombe (UK) – Lava
• Joanna Murray-Smith (AU) – Berlin
• Kae Tempest (UK) – Paradise
• Lauren Whitehead (US) – The Play Which Raises the Question of What Happened in/to Low Income Black Communities Between 1974 and 2004 and Hints at Why Mass Incarceration Is Perhaps a Man-Made Disease and Highlights the Government's General Lack of Empathy for Poor People of Color and Dispels the Notion That Our Condition Is Our Fault and Helps Make Visible Why We Riot When We Mourn and Also Tells the Story of Anita Freeman & Her Kids
• Amanda Wilkin (UK) – Shedding a Skin
The winner, to be announced in April, will be awarded a cash prize of $25,000, and will receive a signed print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Each of the additional finalists will receive an award of $5,000.
Judges for the 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize include actor, writer, and producer Adjoa Andoh; playwright and associate artistic director of Center Theatre Group, Luis Alfaro; writer, director, and artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre, Justin Audibert; Olivier and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable; stage, film, and television star Saidah Arrika Ekulona; and Obie and Lilly award-winning director, actor, and musician, Whitney White.
