The Jerry Kaufman Awards were established in 2007 by Carol Goldberg to recognize excellence in writing for the theater and to support playwrights in the process of a new play’s development. The American Renaissance Theater nominates three full-length plays developed during the Company’s workshops, a winning play is chosen, and all three playwrights receive an honorarium to help further their creative endeavors in an annual awards ceremony held at The Dramatists Guild.
2011 Recipients
Vattago by Ian Cohen
The demon, Vattago, infiltrates the home and workplace of Matt Ross, resulting in chaos and death. A comedy.
Pucelandia by Fran Handman
Pucelandia, formerly the Kingdom of Minnikin, is a family musical about young King Millikin who's evil advisor, Criskin, has manipulated him into banning all the colors but puce, which means that everyone has to wear puce glasses which they can only buy from Criskin who has cornered the market. Anyone who protests is thrown in the dungeon, even, eventually, the King himself. Lucy, an artist friend of King Millikin, outwits Criskin, frees the King and the rainbow and harmony are restored to the Kingdom of Minnikin.
Surf Avenue by Stephen Axelrod
Surf Avenue is both a delicate comedy and a hard assessment of the tough space between dreams and fruition. The author takes the audience on a peril fraught trip. He revisits the site of an accident that symbolized his troubled past. He finally sees his way toward wholeness. The play is a memoir of a life that moves from confusion to light.