2022 Winner
Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters
for
Acetone Wishes and Plexiglass Dreams
Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters is a Barrymore nominated actor, playwright, and teaching artist in Philadelphia. She’s a recent alum of InterAct Theatre Core Playwright, a current American Theatre Group PlayLab artist, and serves as the Lead Artist on the Philly Asian Performing Artists’ Playwrights Project. Her play, Esther Choi and the Fish that Drowned will have a world premiere production with Simpatico Theatre Company (postponed due to COVID-19) and has earned her a spot on the 2020 Kilroys List and Table Work Press Recommended list. Her play Acetone Wishes and Plexiglass Dreams was recently workshopped at the UC Santa Barbara Launch Pad BIPOC Reading Series and will be featured at the Great Plains Theatre Conference in 2022. Her play Half of Chopsticks was a finalist for both the 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and Seven Devils New Plays Conference, and received a stage reading at the inaugural Boise Contemporary Theatre BIPOC Playwrights Festival. Stephanie is a proud graduate of Bucknell University and is currently pursuing her MFA with Point Park University in Writing for Screen and Stage.
McNally Finalists
Honorable Mention – Alexandra Espinoza,
HOMERIDAE
Pratima Agrawal
(She/Her/Hers)
The Last Remains
Lee Edward Colston II
(He/Him/His)
THE FIRST DEEP BREATH
Alexandra Espinoza
(They/Them/Theirs)
HOMERIDAE
Emma Gibson
(She/Her/Hers)
If nobody does remarkable things
Dave Harris
(He/Him/His)
WATCH ME
Keenya Jackson
(She/Her/Hers)
Botanicals or Giving it to God
Carl(os) Roa
(They/Them/Theirs)
The Brightest Sun
Stephanie Kyung Sun Walters
(She/Her/Hers)
Acetone Wishes and Plexiglass Dreams
Eppchez “!” Yo-Sí Yes
(They/Them/Theirs)
Junk Redemption
Julie Zaffarano
(She/Her/Hers)
Above the Fold
“I am confident this award will help identify the next generation of American playwrights who understand the special power of theatre to transform hearts and minds and that Philadelphia Theatre Company will continue to be a welcoming venue for them.”
-Terrence McNally
About the Terrence McNally Award:
For every generation of playwrights, there are the select few whose work is truly transformative and who use the power of theatre to reach the hearts and minds of audiences. Terrence McNally was one such playwright, and we at PTC are forever grateful for the long and fruitful relationship we had with him, established by former Artistic Director Sara Garonzik. PTC produced four McNally world premieres: Master Class, Unusual Acts of Devotion, Golden Age, and Some Men, and the Philadelphia regional premieres of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Love!Valour!Compassion!, and Mothers and Sons. It is with great joy that PTC announces the 2022 Terrence McNally Award to honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Terrence McNally, who passed away in March of 2020 due to complications from COVID.
The Terrence McNally Award was established in 2012 and revived in 2021. Past winners from 2012-2015 are James Ijames, Bill Cain, A. Zell Williams, and Martín Zimmerman. In 2021, the Terrence McNally Award was given to Donja R. Love for his play What Will Happen to All That Beauty? Philadelphia Theatre Company will produce a reading of the play in 2022.
When it was first created, the Award recognized new plays that celebrated themes central to McNally’s work; social justice, queer rights, and the transformative power of art. McNally was a provocateur, and his work was sly and subversive. In 2022, the Terrence McNally Award promises to push the conversation forward in a way that builds upon McNally’s artistic mission. Last year, for the first time, the Terrence McNally Award was given to a Philadelphia playwright. This year, we will once again look to the Philadelphia community to seek playwrights who create art that is subversive and provocative.
With the blessing of Terrence McNally’s husband, producer Tom Kirdahy, PTC hopes to shine a light on the next generation of transformative writers in theatre and help them leave a mark on the playwriting world just as McNally did.
In 2022, the Terrence McNally Award-winning playwright will receive a cash award of $5,000 and development at PTC, including readings as well as administrative and dramaturgical support. The company also will facilitate access to professional connections to help manage the future of the playwright and their work following its exploration at PTC, and will publicize both the prize and subsequent presentations. We understand that each playwright may seek a different form of support for their play; as such, PTC will offer support tailored to the needs and goals of the winner.
Supported by
Dr. Peter H. Arger in memory of Donald S. Wilf
About Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally, who passed away in 2020, is the recipient of four Tony Awards for Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class, Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. Other plays include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; Corpus Christi; The Ritz; Some Men; A Perfect Ganesh; it’s Only A Play; Bad Habits; The Stendhal Syndrome; Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams; Deuce and Unusual Acts of Devotion. His other musicals include the books for Catch Me If You Can; The Full Monty; A Man of No Importance, and The Visit, as well as the libretto for the opera Dead Man Walking. He won an Emmy Award for Andre’s Mother.
(PTC mounted the world premieres of Master Class, Golden Age, Some Men, and Unusual Acts of Devotion and the Philadelphia regional premieres of Love!Valor!Compassion!, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Mothers and Sons and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.)