Inda Craig-Galván Wins National 2018 Blue Ink Playwriting Award

American Blues Theater, Chicago's second oldest Equity Ensemble, under the continued leadership of Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside, has named Inda Craig-Galván the winner of the national 2018 Blue Ink Playwriting Award. Craig-Galván's play, WELCOME TO MATTESON!, was selected from a pool 606 submissions. As part of the award, Matteson receives a $1,000 cash prize and the opportunity to further develop her script with American Blues Theater.

"I am incredibly honored to have my work selected by American Blues Theater," said Inda Craig-Galván. "Being able to 'emerge' as a playwright in the city I grew up in is, of course, a great feeling. And to be here with this play that is so steeped in the politics and complexities of this town makes it even more special. I lived in the South Suburbs during the time when this play takes place. I witnessed what these characters are dealing with. I want to dramatize that - those fears and this weird sense of reverse gentrification - in a way that displays the extreme good alongside the extreme loathsomeness that's inside all of us. I'm excited to continue exploring these couples as they discover their changing meaning of home."

"We're so excited to announce Inda Craig-Galván's script as the 2018 winner," notes Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside. "Inda is an exciting voice in American theater. Her dark comedy will have audiences laughing one moment and sitting in shocked silence the next. Her work is vulnerable, truthful, and provocative - qualities that are certain to give this play a place in the American canon. We're thrilled to further develop WELCOME TO MATTESON! with Inda."

WELCOME TO MATTESON! is about a suburban couple who host a welcome-to-the-neighborhood dinner party for their new neighbors - a couple recently (and forcibly) relocated from Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project - and it's anything by welcoming. A dark, intra-racial comedy about reverse gentrification and how we deal with the "other" when the other looks just like us.

About Inda Craig-Galván

Inda Craig-Galván is a playwright and screenwriter. Her play Black Super Hero Magic Mama was developed in the 2017 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference. Her plays have been workshopped and read at theatres including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Sawn Lab, Intiman Theatre, Playwrights' Arena New Pages Lab, and San Francisco Playhouse. Honors include The Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award, Kilroys List, and Princess Grace Award (runner-up). Inda received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts.

About the Blue Ink Playwriting Award

The annual Blue Ink Playwriting Award was created in 2010 to support new work. Since inception, American Blues Theater has named 8 Award winners, 50 finalists, and 68 semi-finalists. American Blues will award more than $5,000 in cash and prizes for 2018. The full list of 2018 Blue Ink Playwriting Award winners can be found at AmericanBluesTheater.com.

Each year American Blues Theater accepts worldwide submissions of original, unpublished full-length plays. The winning play is selected by Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside and the theater's Ensemble. The playwright receives a monetary prize of $1,000 and a developmental workshop or staged reading at American Blues Theater in Chicago. Finalists and semi-finalists are also awarded a cash prize.

Submissions for the 2019 Blue Ink Playwriting Award open July 1, 2018. All submissions must be received by American Blues Theater by August 31, 2018 at 11:59pm. Playwrights may only submit one (1) manuscript each year for consideration.

About American Blues Theater

Winner of the American Theatre Wing's prestigious 2016 National Theatre Company Award, American Blues Theater is a premier arts organization with an intimate environment that patrons, artists, and all Chicagoans call home. American Blues Theater explores the American identity through the plays it produces and communities it serves.

The diverse and multi-generational artists have established the second-oldest professional Equity Ensemble theater in Chicago. The 35-member Ensemble has 600+ combined years of collaboration on stage. As of 2018, the theater and artists received 197 Joseph Jefferson Awards and nominations that celebrate excellence in Chicago theater and 35 Black Theatre Alliance Awards. The artists are honored with Pulitzer Prize nominations, Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards and numerous other accolades.