Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's Play LIDLESS to Be Presented 9/21 at Yale Rep's Iseman Theatre in New Haven

Francis Ya-Chu Cowhig's award-winning play LIDLESS about a Guatanamo Bay detainee, will be given a staged reading on Monday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Yale Rep's Iseman Theatre 1156 Chapel St.) in New Haven. LIDLESS was the recipient of the 3rd annual Yale Drama Series prize for playwriting, earning Ms.Cowhig $10,000 from the David C. Horn Foundation, along with the staged reading at Yale Rep and the publication of her play by Yale University Press.

Ms. Cowhig's play was chosen as winner of the 2009 Yale Drama Series by the contest's judge for 2009 and 2010, distinguished playwright David Hare. LIDLESS and the 2009 runner-up plays THE DANGER OF BLEEDING BROWN by Enrique Urueta and HELL MONEY by Ruth McKee were chosen from 650 submissions.

In a sign of the growing interest in and increasing prestige of the Yale Drama Series, Francine Horn of the David C. Horn Foundation has announced that the number of submissions for the 2010 Yale Drama Series has increased to 950 plays, including works written in English from The majority are the U.S., Germany, Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, Uganda, Romania, Nigeria, Kuwait, Czech Republic, Singapore, Norway, India and Bulgaria. Winner of the 2010 Yale Drama Series, to be judged again by Mr. Hare, will be announced next year.

LIDLESS is Ms. Cowhig's play about a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who journeys to the home of his female U.S. Army interrogator 15 years after his detention, demanding half her liver for the damage she wreaked on his body and soul during her interrogations.

About the selection of Ms. Cowhig's play, Mr. Hare says, "LIDLESS was the clear winner, an extraordinary and original attempt to show the enduring strain on the victims of the U.S.'s deployment of torture at Guantanamo."

Set to receive her Master of Fine Arts from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas in Austin this May, Ms. Cowhig is a graduate oF Brown University and International School of Beijing.

Irish writer John Connolly was the recipient of the first Yale Drama Series award for playwriting in 2007 for his play BOYS FROM SIAM, while Neil Wechsler won the 2008 prize for his play GRENADINE. Both plays were chosen by Edward Albee, who served as judge for the first two years of the Yale Drama Series.

Mr. Wechsler's play GRENADINE, in fact, opened this month to critical acclaim in a production at the Road Less Traveled Theatre in Buffalo, NY.

David Hare's many plays include Plenty, Amy's View, Stuff Happens, The Blue Room, Via Dolorosa, The Vertical Hour and Gethsemane. Hare's screenplay for The Reader was nominated for a 2009 Academy Award, while his other work for film includes The Hours, The Corrections, Strapless and My Zinc Bed.

The Yale Drama Series is jointly sponsored by Yale University Press and Yale Repertory Theatre, and is generously funded by the David C. Horn Foundation.

THE DAVID C. HORN FOUNDATION was established in 2003 by Francine Horn to honor the memory of her late husband, a beloved figure as publisher and CEO of "Here & There," the leading international forecasting and reporting publication for the fashion industry. Ms. Horn created the Foundation to support new initiatives in the literary and dramatic arts by way of commemorating her husband's lifetime commitment to the written word.

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, founded in 1908, is one of the largest and most distinguished American university presses. It publishes over 320 books a year in a wide range of disciplines, including history, literature, drama, art and architecture, American studies, philosophy, politics, religion, reference, music and the sciences.

Yale Repertory Theatre, founded in 1966, is one of America's leading professional theaters. Each season, Yale Rep produces exciting new plays and bold interpretations of the classics. A champion of new work, Yale Rep has produced nearly 100 world and American premieres by playwrights such as Lee Blessing, Athol Fugard, Marcus Gardley, John Guare, Wendy MacLeod, Terrence McNally, Richard Nelson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, Sam Shepard, Derek Walcott and August Wilson. Ten Yale Rep productions have advanced to Broadway, garnering nearly 40 Tony Award nominations and eight awards. Yale Rep itself has been honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater.

For additional information and rules regarding submissions, visit www.dchornfoundation.org

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