Author Awarded for War Monologues

Everett Evans - Houston Chronicle

Canadian playwright Judith Thompson has won the 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for Palace of the End, her trilogy of harrowing and illuminating monologues representing real-life characters impacted by the Iraq War.

Palace of the End recently concluded a critically acclaimed run at the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto, where its author lives. The drama will have its New York premiere in June at off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons.

Awarded annually to an outstanding new English language play by a woman, the prize was presented to Thompson in a ceremony Monday at the Alley Theatre. It's the first time a Canadian has won the top honor in the prestigious playwriting prize's 30-year history. Thompson received $20,000 and a signed and numbered print by artist Willem de Kooning.

Special commendations of $2,500 each were awarded to: Girls and Dolls, by Lisa McGee (of Northern Ireland); God's Ear, by Jenny Schwartz (United States); and That Face, by Polly Stenham (England).

In memory of Wendy Wasserstein, who was intimately connected with the prize as a former winner, judge and director, Alley company actress Annalee Jefferies read an excerpt from Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles, as well as a scene from this year's winner. Alley artistic director Gregory Boyd presented the prize, and former winner and judge Marsha Norman commented on the prize's significance.

Judges for this year's Blackburn Prize were: Gordon Edelstein, artistic director of the Long Wharf Theatre; actress Edie Falco; Broadway producer Thelma Holt; British stage director Francis Matthews; actress Janet McTeer; and playwright Sarah Ruhl, whose 2004 Blackburn Prize winner The Clean House was recently staged by the Alley.

Other 2008 finalists were: Black Crows, by Linda Brogan (England); Stick Fly, by Lydia Diamond (United States); Stockholm, by Bryony Lavery (England); Strangers, Babies, by Linda McLean (Scotland); Boats on a River, by Julie Marie Myatt (United States); and Hardball, by Victoria Stewart (United States)

This year's finalists were chosen from a field of 90 entries.

Created to encourage women playwrights, the Blackburn Prize reflects the values of Houston-born actress and writer Susan Smith Blackburn, who lived her final 15 years in London and died in 1977. The prize is administered by co-founder and president Emilie Killgore, of Houston and New York.

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