| 2024 IDEA AWARDS FOR THEATRE recipients announced ...Luis Valdez, Daria Miyeko Marinelli, AG, MILCK, & Sam Chanse, and Dan Fishback | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 09:47 am EST 11/10/24 | |
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| www.BretnPaulFoundation.org The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of their 2024 Idea Awards for Theatre; three categories of grants awarded to adventurous new voices in playwriting and musical theatre, as well the visionary playwrights who have inspired and blazed trails before them. The 2024 Tooth of Time Distinguished Career Award will be presented to Luis Valdez (Zoot Suit, La Bamba). Honoring accomplished playwrights who have created significant, idea-driven works throughout their career, the Tooth of Time Distinguished Career Award is given with a $25,000 prize for the recipient. Daria Miyeko Marinelli is the recipient of this year's Ollie New Play Award. Two Vivace Musical Theatre Awards will be presented; one to AG, MILCK, and Sam Chanse; and another to Dan Fishback. Recognizing emerging talent and original work with ambitious theatrical ideas, both awards are bestowed to each recipient with a $25,000 prize. Each of the six artists will also receive a unique stone statuette hand-carved by Bruce Ostler. The 2024 Idea Awards for Theatre will be presented on Friday, November 15, 2024, in a private ceremony (by invitation only) at The Players (16 Gramercy Park South, NYC). Entertainment will feature live performances by this year's Vivace Musical Theatre Award winners. Theatrical Agent Bret Adams and his partner Dr. Paul Reisch loved the theatre with great passion. As a theatrical agent, Bret shepherded the careers of many actors, writers and directors and designers, including Phylicia Rashad, Judy Kaye, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Sherman Hemsley, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Eve Arden, Christine Ebersole, Kathleen Marshall, Jane Wyman, André De Shields, Kathy Bates, Susan H. Schulman, Jack Heifner, Philip McKinley and Robert Harling, among many others. After Bret and Paul's passing, in 2006 and 2015 respectively, their eponymous foundation was created at their bequest. The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation champions visionary theatre writers in their creation of expansive, illuminating, and idea-driven theatre. Embracing diversity in all its forms, The Foundation encourages artists with fresh perspectives - particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds - to create idea-driven new plays and musicals reflecting on multivalent themes. Nominations for all three awards are accepted exclusively from The Foundation's Board of Artistic Advisors. For more information, visit www.BretnPaulFoundation.org. "The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation created the ‘Idea Awards for Theatre' to encourage expansive, idea-driven artworks with inherently theatrical ways of illuminating big ideas and concepts," says Bruce Ostler, V.P. and Board Member of The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation. "With our grants, we hope to give ambitious writers the needed time and space to explore big, complex ideas. These plays take a community to build, so we are also partnering with theatre companies and producers to further develop our awarded projects, and get these pieces out to audiences. We are proud to present the Ollie Award for the most ambitious new play by an emerging playwright, two Vivace Awards for big-idea new musicals, and the Tooth of Time Award to honor artists who have a substantial and important career of idea-driven theatrical works." "Luis Valdez is a titan upon whose back the Chicano theatre movement stands. He has created work over six decades, as a solo artist and with his company El Teatro Campesino, that has engaged movements and inspired generations of artists after him," says Kate Bussert, Executive Director of the BAPR Foundation. "Our musical theatre winners this year are each using the form to grapple with big societal issues in a theatrical way. Dan Fishback is telling his story of living with ME/CFS with his new musical Dan Fishback Is Alive, Unwell, And Living In His Apartment, and is transforming his illness and isolation into a radically welcoming, care-full rock concert that will use theatrical tools in new ways to make the event accessible and beautiful. And the team of AG, MILCK, and Sam Chanse are creating The Family Album, which will follow a Chinese-American survivor of sexual assault as she breaks through cultural taboos and family pressure to stay silent. And finally, our new play winner Daria Miyeko Marinelli is dreaming up an immersive piece that will weave together three family lineages over a century of time, interrogating the legacies and mythologies we inherit from our ancestors. Each of these six artists is so deserving, and we are thrilled to welcome them into our community." LUIS VALDEZ (2024 Tooth of Time Distinguished Career Award recipient) is regarded as one of the most important and influential American playwrights and filmmakers living today. His internationally renowned, Obie award-winning theater company, El Teatro Campesino (The Farm Workers' Theater) was founded by Luis in 1965 – in the heat of the United Farm Workers (UFW) struggle and the Great Delano Grape Strike in California's Central Valley. His involvement with Cesar Chavez, the UFW, and the early Chicano Movement left an indelible mark that remained embodied in all his work even after he left the UFW in 1967. In 1978, he wrote and directed Zoot Suit, the play that re-exams the Sleepy Lagoon Trial of 1942 and the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, two of the darkest moments in LA urban history. It is considered a masterpiece of the American Theater as well as the first Chicano play on Broadway and the first Chicano major feature film. Luis' numerous feature film and television credits include, among others, the 1987 box office hit film La Bamba starring Lou Diamonds Phillips. Luis' hard work and long creative career have won him countless awards including the prestigious George Peabody Award for excellence in television, the Presidential Medal of the Arts, the Governor's Award for the California Arts Council, and Mexico's prestigious Aguila Azteca Award given to individuals whose work promotes cultural excellence and exchange between US and Mexico. In September, 2016, he was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President Obama at the White House. DARIA MIYEKO MARINELLI (2024 Ollie New Play Award recipient) [they/she] is a playwright, screenwriter, and climate storyteller who delights in using the heist genre, stories of wildness, and bifurcating narrative structures to challenge current and construct new cultural mythologies. Daria's work has been performed at La Jolla Playhouse's WOW Festival, Atlantic Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, HERE Arts Center, and EST-LA, among others. Mx. Marinelli has developed work with Cirque du Soleil, Roundabout Theatre Company, The Playwright's Realm, Fault Line Theatre, SPACE on Ryder Farm, The New Harmony Project, Seven Devils Playwriting Conference and The Kennedy Center (MFA Playwrights Workshop and TYA/USA's New Visions New Voices). Playwriting accolades include being a three-time Finalist and a two-time Semi-Finalist for The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, a Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist and Semi-Finalist, a Playwrights' Center Core Writer finalist, and a showcased writer at the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists. Daria serves on the Board of Directors for The New Harmony Project and Fault Line Theatre. Mx. Marinelli has developed a TV series with Hill District Media and their original pilot (We are Your Villain) was a Finalist for The Black List's NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship and the 2024 Sundance Institute / Alfred P. Sloan Grant. Based in LA, Daria is a forever New Yorker at heart. | BA: Brown University. MFA: University of Texas at Austin. AG (2024 Vivace Musical Theatre Award recipient). LA-based producer / Grammy-nominated songwriter / mix engineer- AG is a powerhouse. With 600+ song placements to date, she has become one of the most prolific producers in the world of film and TV. AG's work has been featured in countless trailers, promos, films, and TV shows. She works closely with music supervisors, trailer houses, ad agencies, and film studios including Universal, Lionsgate, Paramount, and Warner Bros along with networks and streaming platforms such as HBO, STARZ, ABC, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. AG's music has also been featured on National and Global Ad campaigns for Verizon, Samsung, Ford, Cadillac, Starbucks, P&G, Brawny, and more. AG's catalogue has generated over 370 million streams and 430 million views on YouTube to date. AG is also in a band called The Rescues, who are currently working on a musical adaptation of The Lost Boys with award-winning directors and producers. Additionally, AG and artist MILCK are working on a musical for La Jolla Playhouse. AG has made it her mission to bring diversity to the sync world in any way she can. Not satisfied with the status quo in this historically male-dominated industry, AG collaborates with and mentors the next generation of women producers, writers, and engineers as they take a solid step — and hold their ground. MILCK (2024 Vivace Musical Theatre Award recipient) born Connie K. Lim, is a powerful voice for change in today's music scene. Best known for her viral anthem "Quiet," which became a global rallying cry for women's rights, MILCK blends soul-stirring melodies with raw, impactful lyrics. Her music, which has been celebrated by outlets like Billboard and NPR, serves as a beacon of hope and empowerment, encouraging listeners to embrace their authentic selves. MILCK has collaborated with notable artists such as John Legend, Natasha Bedingfield, and LeAnn Rimes, blending soulful melodies with poignant, socially conscious lyrics. Beyond her music, MILCK is expanding her creative reach into theater; La Jolla Playhouse has commissioned her to develop The Family Album, a musical exploring themes of healing and family, set to premiere in early 2026. Dive into her world and discover the anthems that amplify the voice within us all. SAM CHANSE (2024 Vivace Musical Theatre Award recipient) is the author of plays including What you are now (Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan & The Civilians), Disturbance Specialist (The Public Theater & National Asian American Theatre Company's Out of Time), Trigger (Lark Venturous Fellowship), Fruiting Bodies (Ma-Yi Theater), and Monument, or Four Sisters (A Sloth Play) (Magic Theatre). Her work has also been developed with Ars Nova (P.S.), Cherry Lane (The Opportunities of Extinction), Playwrights' Realm (The Other Instinct), New York Stage & Film, The Lark, Boston Court, the Ojai Playwrights' Conference, and is published by Kaya Press (Lydia's Funeral Video) and TCG (The Kilroys List). She is currently developing a new musical, The Family Album, with collaborators MILCK, AG, and Jess McLeod, commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse. A resident playwright of New Dramatists, she is a former fellow of the Lark and Venturous Theater Fund, MacDowell, Cherry Lane, Sundance Theatre Institute, and Playwrights Realm, and has received commissions and residencies from NAATCO, Djerassi, SPACE at Ryder Farm, EST/Sloan, Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and others. She is an alum of Ars Nova's Play Group, the Civilians R&D Group, and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. As an educator, she has taught writing and playwriting at institutions including Columbia University, NYU, and the University of Rochester. A native New Yorker, she was based in San Francisco for several years, when she served as artistic director of Asian American arts nonprofit Kearny Street Workshop and developed work as a writer and performer at various artistic homes. She is a proud member of Dramatists Guild and WGAW. TV: The Good Doctor (ABC); MFA: Columbia University and NYU/Tisch GMTWP. Info: samchanse.com DAN FISHBACK (2024 Vivace Musical Theatre Award recipient) has been making theater and music in NYC since 2003. His musical The Material World, which found a family of Jewish socialist immigrants confronting the promise of Soviet utopianism in the 1920s, was called "the best downtown musical in years" by Time Out New York in 2012. His 2009 play You Will Experience Silence, which framed the Chanukah story in the context of the Iraq War, was called "a forceful, often hilarious reflection on the politics of American occupation" by the Village Voice. Fishback's 2011 solo performance thirtynothing confronted the then-under-discussed history of the early AIDS epidemic, and sought to understand the meaning of gay mass death for gay men who were children in those terrifying years. In 2013, spurred by the political questions inherent in his thirtynothing project, Fishback founded The Helix Queer Performance Network–a programming platform designed to bring queer generations together and redress inequities in the world of queer arts and culture. He directed Helix's slate of intergenerational festivals, workshops, and public events through the platform's conclusion in 2020, including La MaMa Experimental Theater's annual festival La MaMa's Squirts: Generations of Queer Performance, which continues today. Fishback has released several albums, both solo and with his band Cheese On Bread. His most recent release, Ill I – Laughing With Lizards, features songs from his upcoming theater event, Dan Fishback is Alive, Unwell & Living in His Apartment. Fishback has had myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS) since 2009. |
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