Julia Jordan And The Writers Lab Among The 2023 Honor Roll! Honors Recipients

Honor Roll! the 1,700-member organization founded to support women+ playwrights over 40, has announced the recipients of the second annual HONOR ROLL! HONORS.

Honor Roll! Honors recognizes the extraordinary work individuals and organizations have done - and continue to do - on behalf of women+ playwrights aged 40 and older.

This year's Honorees are:
Legacy Award - Julia Jordan

Individual Achievement - Plan-B Theatre, Jerry Rapier, Artistic Director and Cheryl Ann Cluff, Managing Director

Outstanding Producer - Thomas Coté, The Workshop Theatre

Outstanding Publisher - Debbie Lamedman, Smith & Kraus

Inclusionary Festival - The Writers Lab, Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon

Nominations for Honor Roll! Honors were gathered from among the organization's 1,700 members and the honorees were selected from those nominees by the organization's Executive Committee.

Legacy Award winner, Julia Jordan has been tireless in her advocacy for women+ playwrights, including those over 40. She initiated The Count, an ongoing study that asks the question, "Who is being produced in American theatres? She also co-created The Lillys, an outlet to honor the work of women in the American theater and led this program through 2023. Her activism on behalf of women playwrights has changed the American theater. When contacted regarding her award, her response was simply, "How lovely."

Plan-B Theatre was also delighted with their Individual Achievement Award. Over the past 15 years they have produced 32 plays by women+ all over the age of 40. "They are all Utah locals. And all but one was a world premiere. The most extraordinary thing? It's our ordinary," said Artistic Director Jerry Rapier. Managing Director Cheryl Ann Cluff said, "I struggle with internalized ageism more often than I'd like. Working with other women+ in this age range makes a real positive difference for me. Thank you, lovely, lovely person, for the nomination."

Outstanding Producer, Thomas Coté offers a playwriting intensive for four Honor Roll! playwrights each year at The Workshop Theater. This intensive runs for 8 weeks during which these Honor Roll! members work on their unproduced play with two dramaturgs. Coté said he feels "lucky to have met and worked with eight Honor Roll! playwrights."

Outstanding Publisher, Debbie Lamedman edits The Best 10-minute Plays, and The Best Men's and The Best Women's Stage Monologues. Since assuming this position, Debbie has made a point of being inclusive and especially ensuring that women+ playwrights over 40 earn a place in these anthologies. Always unassuming, Debbie said she was "Gob smacked" by the award.

The Writers Lab winner of the Inclusionary Festival award amplifies the voices of women+ over 40 whose stories have not been told by offering female identifying writers the opportunity to develop their screenplays through one-on-one meetings, panel discussions, peer workshops and mock writer's rooms during a retreat, which is paid for - including room and board - by The Writers Lab. The idea is to cultivate first-rate cinematic stories and to ready the projects for market. The Writers Lab is run by Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon as part of New York Women in Film & Television. Both Elizabeth and Nitza are encouraged because scripts begun in The Writers Lab are now finding their way on screen.

 

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