Friday, September 18, 2009
Steinberg Trust Honors 3 After Tussle Over Playwright Award
NYTimes.com: "After awarding Tony Kushner a record-breaking $200,000 for distinguished playwriting last fall, the Steinberg Trust suddenly realized there was a problem with its plan to present its other newly created award to two emerging playwrights this year. “What we immediately discovered was that we all described ‘emerging’ differently,” said Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater in New York and a member of the selection committee. Some of his colleagues thought the prize, created by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, was geared toward writers just a year out of school, while others considered “emerging” to refer to a playwright in midcareer."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
"Defining “emerging playwright” turned out to be like grasping Jell-O." That I think is an excellent way of describing the challenege the trustees faced when picking winners for the trust.Personally I think that an emerging playwright can be a writer at any stage in their career. Regardless of how successful they have been, because in this business one success doesnt by any means dictate that there will be another, and everyone is always striving to grow from their last work, and do better than before.
While I'm glad the board was able to come to a decision on the argument of "emerging playwright", I think (and the board tossed this away, according to the article) that financial need should be a part of the consideration process for future years. I was somewhat appalled to hear that the first prize was $200,000 and was given to Tony Kushner - he is a fantastic young playwright, but he has hit enormous success and name recognition with Angels in America and his other plays, books and movie (Munich, Stephen Spielberg). I feel like the prize would be better suited to help out new-to-the-business artists who are less career- and financially stable, since getting established is often such a difficult task.
I still think there is a conflict of interest in picking these playwrights. I am sure all are incredibly talented, but the fact that each have been produced by someone on the board worries me. I am sure there are other playwrights who have not been produced by someone on the board that could certainly use the money. I agree with Brian. Hearing that 200,000 dollars was given to Tony Kushner seems almost ridiculous. I am glad that at least this time the prize money was split amoung three playwrights and not given to just one.
Post a Comment