The Barbour Award was created in 2007 to celebrate new work for the theatre. Each year, EAG partners with a different local theatre company, playwriting program, or playwriting collective to present staged readings of three new plays, with one writer being awarded a prize of $500. The Application to apply to be our 2023 parner is now closed. Stay tuned for our 2024 application!
This year's Barbour Award season is now over, but check back in early 2024 for next year's!
This year's Barbour Award season is now over, but check back in early 2024 for next year's!
The 2023 Barbour Award
In 2023, we were proud to partner with The Skeleton Rep(resents) for playwright and play selection.
The Skeleton Rep(resents) is a new works development company with a mission to explore modern myth through the sincere practice of craft. Their intention is not only to bring myths from the past into the present, but more importantly, to work with those preexisting narratives, archetypes, and structures in order to explore what is mythical about our own age.
"While supporting theater artists through the development process is an important step in keeping the theater vigorous and contemporary, it is often not the part of creating that receives much in the way of recognition and awards," said founder Ria T. DiLullo. "This is a major part of why we are delighted to have been chosen to partner with EAG for the Barbour Award this year. This series of staged readings is a superb chance for our selected NYC-based playwrights to reach a wider audience and be recognized for their excellent work in telling unique narratives."
"While supporting theater artists through the development process is an important step in keeping the theater vigorous and contemporary, it is often not the part of creating that receives much in the way of recognition and awards," said founder Ria T. DiLullo. "This is a major part of why we are delighted to have been chosen to partner with EAG for the Barbour Award this year. This series of staged readings is a superb chance for our selected NYC-based playwrights to reach a wider audience and be recognized for their excellent work in telling unique narratives."
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2023's Playwrights
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Confessional
by Emily Claire Schmitt When the unsolved shooting of a Catholic high school girl rocks the tight-knit community of Staten Island, New York, Abby, who has begrudgingly moved back after years of living in Manhattan, finds herself inexplicably drawn back to the people and patterns of her youth. Is her creeping sense of guilt merely a byproduct of her Catholic upbringing, or are the persistent memories of sinister encounters with her own brother pointing her toward a darker truth? Confessional is a story of the questions we avoid asking and the secrets we keep from ourselves.
Emily Claire Schmitt: Emily Claire Schmitt is a playwright and screenwriter focused on uncovering the mystical in the modern world. She is a frequent collaborator with The Skeleton Rep and is currently the Executive Director of The Catholic Artists Connection. Her musical The Inconvenient Miracle (with Ria T. DiLullo and Emily Rose Simons) recently played at EAG as part of their Open Stage space grant. |
Abhinaya: A Dance Play
by Veda Kumarjiguda Avni is preparing for her arangetram, her Indian classical dance debut. Her training grounds her, even as her family falls apart. Money struggles, divorce, secrets, and the failed American dream combine with stories from the Ramayana and Mahābhārata. Abhinaya: A Dance Play explores the role of classical arts in the modern world.
Veda Kumarjiguda: Veda Kumarjiguda is a writer based in Queens, New York. She is a Primary Stages Echoes Writer in 2021-2022. Her theatrical work has appeared at New Jersey's South Asian Theater Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. |
Un Hombre: A Golem Story
by Stephen Kaplan A modern-day golem story about Rebecca Wolfson, a recently widowed single mother, who makes a clay man that comes to life and serves as a Bar Mitzvah and Spanish tutor for her 12-year-old son. As mother and son get wrapped up in the distractions that this seemingly perfect solution to their problems offers, the clay man begins questioning his own existence and purpose, forcing all three to confront the truths they’ve all been avoiding.
Stephen Kaplan: Recent productions include: Tracy Jones (NNPN Rolling World Premiere) and Branwell (and other Brontës)…. Other plays produced off-Broadway at 59E59 and regionally. A 2021 Individual Artist Fellowship winner in playwriting from the NJ State Council on the Arts and finalist: Bay Street, Seven Devils, Woodward/Newman and semi-finalist: O’Neill, Bay Area, PlayPenn, and more. www.bystephenkaplan.com |
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Past Award Winners
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2008 - Jack Frankel, Human Voices (Polaris North)
2009 - Alisha Silver, Golden (Hunter College) 2010 - (tie) Lynn Rosen, Apple Cove, and Laura Eason, 40 Days (Women’s Project) 2011 - Ian August, Donna Orbits the Moon (NJ Rep) 2012 - Aaron Jafferis, How to Break (HERE) 2013 - Bill Cosgriff, Rio Rita (ARTC) 2014 - Mark Karafin, Man in the Moon (Oberon Theatre Ensemble) 2015 - Dara O’Brien, Early Sunday Morning (Resonance Ensemble) 2016 - Perry Guzzi, Across the Way (HB Studios) 2017 - Andrea J. Fulton, A Punk or A Gentleman (Theater for a New City) 2018 - Alexis Roblan, The Andrew Play (New Perspectives Theatre Company) 2019 - Reynaldo Piniella, Black Doves (Quick Silver Theater Company) 2020 - As a result of COVID-19 disrupting our 2020 Barbour readings, the award was split between all three finalists: Garrett David Kim, Cherry Lou Sy, and Ray Yamanouchi (Leviathan Lab) 2021 - Garrett David Kim, Are You There Truman? (Leviathan Lab) 2022 - Jon Krupp, Kilonova (Playwrights Gallery) |
"The Andrew Play" by Alexis Roblan, winner of the 2018 Barbour Award
"Black Doves" by Reynaldo Piniella, winner of the 2019 Barbour Award
"Are You There Truman?" by Garrett David Kim, winner of the 2021 Barbour Award
"Kilonova" by Jon Krupp, winner of the 2022 Barbour Award
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The Barbour Award was established and endowed by Janet Barbour Carhart, Alison Barbour Fox, and from a portion of the gift left to EAG by Mr. Thomas Barbour’s estate.
The Episcopal Actors' Guild of America, Inc. - 1 East 29th Street - New York, NY 10016 - (212) 685-2927
The Episcopal Actors' Guild (est. 1923) provides emergency aid and support to professional performers of all faiths and none who are undergoing financial crisis. We are also dedicated to helping emerging artists advance their careers through scholarships, awards, and performance opportunities. The Episcopal Actors' Guild is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization. All services are strictly confidential. Review our Privacy Policy.
photography by Ahron R. Foster
The Episcopal Actors' Guild (est. 1923) provides emergency aid and support to professional performers of all faiths and none who are undergoing financial crisis. We are also dedicated to helping emerging artists advance their careers through scholarships, awards, and performance opportunities. The Episcopal Actors' Guild is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization. All services are strictly confidential. Review our Privacy Policy.
photography by Ahron R. Foster
