Williamstown Theatre Festival's Beth Hyland
Wins L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award
By: WTF - Mar 28, 2024
Williamstown Theatre Festival is pleased to announce Beth Hyland as the recipient of the 2024 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award for her play SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA. Hyland will receive the $10,000 award and the accompanying $10,000 Jay Harris Commission to write a new play. SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA will also receive a reading at the Festival this summer as part of the Fridays@3 reading series, showcasing new work in development.
Geffen Playhouse (who premiered Man of God in 2022), led by new artistic director Tarell Alvin McCraney, has committed to further development of the piece in their 2024-2025 season.
In SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA, a tragicomic exploration of women's creativity and women's madness, love and art collide with supernatural consequences. Sally, a once-celebrated novelist grappling with writer's block and overshadowed by her husband Theo's rising literary fame, seeks solace and inspiration in the iconic Boston apartment once inhabited by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Intent on completing her novel about Plath's life and salvaging her faltering marriage, Sally's plans take a haunting turn when she begins experiencing spectral encounters that challenge her perception of reality. As the boundaries between truth and fiction blur, Sally confronts the ghosts of her past, threatening to unravel both her sanity and her artistic vision.
Submissions for the award are by invitation only and are carefully evaluated by a team of readers over the course of six months. The finalist plays are considered by a panel of three judges. The finalists for the 2024 award were Good Time Charlie by Ryan Haddad, Jar of Fat by Seayoung Yim, and Only Some of God's Children or Mississippi Magnolias by Paris Crayton III. The finalist judges for the 2024 award were WTF artists Jennifer Chang and Lee Sunday Evans and Williams College faculty Karen Shepard.
Additional plays as part of the 2024 Fridays@3 reading series and additional programming for the 2024 WTF Summer Season will be announced in the coming weeks.