The Woodward International Playwriting Prize

Announcing the Winner of the first Woodward International Playwriting Prize!

The UNH Department of Theatre and Dance is pleased to announce that the winning play of the first Woodward International Playwriting Prize is Sila, by Chantal Bilodeau. The two runners up for the prize are A Far Shore, by Douglas Huff and White Flag, by Ebru Gokdag.

Sila examines the competing interests shaping the future of the Canadian Arctic and local Inuit population. Set on Baffin Island in the territory of Nunavut, it follows a climate scientist, an Inuit activist and her daughter, two Canadian Coast Guard officers, an Inuit elder and two polar bears as they see their values challenged and their lives become intricately intertwined. Equal parts Inuit myth and contemporary Arctic policy, Sila uses puppetry, projections, spoken word poetry and three different languages; English, French & Inuktitut.

The UNH production of Sila will be produced in the 2013-2014 main stage season and directed by Professor Deborah Kinghorn. This production will be co-sponsored by the UNH Sustainability Institute. There will also be public readings of the two runners up plays during the 2013/14 academic year.

The purpose of the Woodward International Playwriting Prize is to promote a deeper understanding of international cultures through a competition for plays addressing relevant themes.  The competition is funded through Cultural Stages: The Woodward International Drama and Dance Initiative.  

CHANTAL BILODEAU is a New York-based playwright and translator originally from Montreal, Canada. Her play Sila recently won the Woodward International Playwriting Prize as well as First Prize in the 2012 Earth Matters on Stage Ecodrama Festival and the 2011 Uprising National Playwriting Competition. She is the recipient of a Jerome Travel & Study Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
 

The Woodward Prize Selection committee received 148 submissions representing playwrights from North, Central and South America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe.

The following plays have been selected as finalist for the prize (listed in alphabetical order by title and including the subject of the playwright’s work).

• A Far Shore by Douglas Huff (India)
• Atlas of Longing, by Jeanne Drennan (Belgium)
• The Butler Clinic, by  Shawn Raviv (Swaziland)
• Events with Life’s Leftovers by Alberto Villarreal Diaz, Translated by Andy Bragen (Mexico)
• Serenade by S.A. Shipley (Mexico)
• Sila by Chantal Bilodeau (Canadian Arctic)
• Red Flamboyant by Don Nguyen (Vietnam)
• The Washing Machine by Radha S. Menon (India)
• What it Means to Disappear Here, by Jeremy Kamps (Columbia)
• White Flag by Ebru Gokdag (Turkey)

The committee wishes to extend its appreciation to the writers who sent in submissions from across the globe.

The purpose of the Woodward International Playwriting Prize is to promote a deeper understanding of international cultures through a competition for plays addressing relevant themes , resulting in a full production of the play at UNH.  The competition is funded through Cultural Stages: The Woodward International Drama and Dance Initiative.