The National New Play Network has announced that George Brant’s Grounded is the winner of the 2012 Smith Prize. The honor, awarded annually to the best new play focusing on American politics, carries a $5,000 cash grant, which is split between the playwright and the first NNPN member theater to produce the play.In the play, an F-16 pilot is “repurposed” to fly drones following her unexpected pregnancy. She struggles through surreal 12-hour shifts far from the battlefield, hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother by night.
Brant’s plays include Elephant’s Graveyard, The Mourners’ Bench, Any Other Name, Good on Paper, and Dark Room, among others. His work has been produced and developed by such companies as Trinity Repertory Company, The Kennedy Center, Cleveland Play House, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and many more.
In addition to upcoming development work with the New Harmony Project and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Grounded will receive a staged reading at NNPN’s Annual Conference at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, MO on June 8, directed by Artistic Director Cynthia Levin.
For more information about NNPN and the Smith Prize, click here.
