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Michael Ryan
Playwright of EMPIRE BUILDER,
winner of the First Playwriting Contest, 1993
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Aoise Stratford
Most recient winner, 2005-06 Playwriting Contest for
LOVE AND A WIDE MOON
Cast Shown Above: (l-r) Jan Grice, Lue MacWilliams, Maureen Van Trease, Ben Esner, Rachel Sullivan, Marc Geller.
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The Judges
Florence Hayle, Beverly MacMahon, Alice Timothy, Barbara Waldinger and Jan Grice
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The PLAYWRITING CONTEST was first announced on April 20, 1993. Playwrights were invited to submit plays that run 60 to 90 minutes and have not been published or produced. The plays submitted to the Contest should be capable of being presented as a staged reading by professional actors and not, at this time in its developement, require full production. In that first contest there were thirty-five plays received and the judges were noted poet, John Ashbery, free-lance writer, Gwyneth Barger, and editor-in-chief at the time of Dance Magazine. The winning play was The Empire Builder, by Michael Ryan. The reading of this first winner was pesented in November of 1993, at which time Mr. Ryan was presented the $500 prize money.
Each year the task of choosing a winner of the W Keith Hedrick Playwriting Contest becomes more difficult. Since that first year of the contest, it has become extrtemely well know all across the country, though we only accept plays from the northeast. This year there were 62 entries. The five judges obviously spent long hours getting the number down to the twelve finalists. At that time each judge rated the plays 10 to 40, 40 being the highest. In mid-August the judges met, discussed the results, and decided on the winner and the other four plays that would be read for the 2007-08 season. Tackling the monumental task this year was a committee of five: General Manager Florence Hayle, Vice-President Beverly MacMahon, Showcase Theatre board member Alice Timothy, Artistic Director Barbara Waldinger, and chairman of the committee, President, Jan Grice. The five judges come from extremely varied backgrounds, bringing an excellent mix of perspectives to the judging process.
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