Petrona de la Cruz To Receive the 2023 The League of Professional Theatre Women Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award 

Continuing its 40th Anniversary Celebration, The League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) has announced that Petrona de la Cruz of Chiapas, Mexico has been chosen to receive the 2023 Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award (GCITA).

The GCITA Program was established in 2011 in honor of Rosamond Gilder and Martha Coigney, two legendary theatre women who chartered a decades-long and enduring course of productive diplomatic relations through the Arts. The triennial award has previously been given to Odile Gakire Katese (Rwanda), Patricia Ariza (Colombia), Adelheid Roosen (The Netherlands) and Hanane Hajj Ali (Lebanon).

GCITA Co-directors Linda Chapman and Joan D. Firestone announce that two-time GCITA Finalist Maya Zbib (Lebanon) will also receive Special Recognition this year.

Petrona de la Cruz was the first indigenous person to win Mexico's coveted Rosario Castellanos Prize for Literature in 1992 and then received the National Council for Culture and the Arts grant, the highest in Mexico, in 2002. In 1999, FOMMA (Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya), which she formed in 1994 to support Mayan women and children, received a national award given by IMIFAP (Mexican Institute of Research on the Family and Population) and sponsored by the Summit Foundation for its work in radio, theater, and education in Mexico. Cruz first practiced theater with the Sna Jtz'ibajom, a Mayan cultural cooperative in a social climate that discouraged women from speaking publicly of their experiences. There, she began to explore community theater as a medium for addressing problems such as domestic violence, rape, alcohol abuse, migration, and poverty as they affect the lives of women. Her debut play, Una mujer desesperada focuses on the seemingly endless violence visited on Mayan women, and the matter-of-fact impossibility of recourse. It was the first play written by an indigenous Highland Mayan woman about the real life social drama of family violence. Since then, her plays have been performed in several countries, and she continues to write as she searches for new ways to encourage economic and cultural development for indigenous women and children. In addition to writing and performing, Cruz currently serves as a Congresswoman for the State of Chiapas local Congress for the 2021-2024 term.

The only Award of its kind, the GCITA honors the exceptional work of theatre women around the world who are making a difference in their communities and in the lives of women. It includes a cash prize and travel expenses to New York City for an Award Ceremony and a series of special events that celebrate the winner's work and acknowledge all of the nominees.

The 2023 Award will be presented on October 10, 2023 at a location to be announced.

Fifteen artists were nominated for the 2023 Award, with Petrona de la Cruz chosen from a group of four finalists which also included: Leila Toubel (Tunisia), Lydia Koniordou (Greece), and Maria Tri Sulistyani (Indonesia).

The other nominees are: Tereza Andersson (Sweden), Sonya Armaghanyan (Armenia), Hope Azeda (Rwanda), Cayetana Guillen Cuervo (Spain), Yael Farber (South Africa), Kiyo Gutierrez (Guadalajara, Mexico), Hala Omran (France/Syria), Romina Paula (Argentina), Regina Miranda Ribeiro (Brazil), and Morm Sokly (Cambodia).

LPTW is a membership organization that has championed women in theatre and advocated for increased equity and access for practitioners throughout the industry. Our programs and initiatives create community, cultivate leadership, celebrate the historic contributions and contemporary achievements of women in theatre, and increase opportunities and recognition for women working in theatre. To learn more or become a member, visit www.theatrewomen.org

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