Brittany K. Allen Named Recipient of the 2021 Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award for HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

The Lark and producer Daryl Roth have announced Brittany K. Allen as the recipient of the 2021 Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award for her play Happy Happy Joy Joy.

The Creative Spirit Award, now in its 26th year, was first given to director Michael Mayer in 1996. Presented annually, this $10,000 award includes a year-long residency at The Lark, with access to its artistic resources and developmental support.

"The Award was established to honor theatre artists who have extraordinary vision, dedication, energy, and spirit for doing what they love, creating and bringing theatre to life for so many of us to enjoy," said Daryl Roth. "I am thrilled to have playwright Brittany K. Allen receive this year's award. Brittany's exploration of a cross-generational relationship between two strong-willed and singular women leaps from the page with humanity and honesty. I am so happy to be partnering with The Lark to support her distinct voice and engaging storytelling as she continues to develop the play."

"We, at The Lark, are so excited to partner with Daryl Roth, a visionary and leader in the theater field to support Brittany K. Allen, a bold and unique artist who amplifies the voices of Black lives, particularly women," said May Adrales (Artistic Director, The Lark).

Brittany K. Allen is a Brooklyn-based writer and actor, and was a 2017 Van Lier New Voices Fellow at The Lark.

"I'm tremendously excited to be the recipient of this year's Creative Spirit Award," said Allen. "The Lark was one of my first artistic homes. It's a magical place, populated with the best people. To be given space, confidence, and time to revise in the rooms where I learned how to make big, playful swings in my writing (and trust my own barmy process) is humbling and galvanizing all at once. And it's especially poignant to be working with Daryl Roth again, who I'd met previously as an actor. Daryl's commitment to lifting up visionary storytellers is rare and renowned, and it means the world to remain on her radar. In short-I am giddy and very grateful!"

ABOUT BRITTANY K. ALLEN

Brittany K. Allen is a Brooklyn-based writer and actor. She's a proud member of Ensemble Studio's Theatre's Obie-winning Youngblood collective, an alumna of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater, and was a 2017 Van Lier New Voices fellow at The Lark. Her play Redwood (2017 & 2020 Kilroys List) received its world premiere at Portland Center Stage in 2019, and will appear in upcoming seasons at the Jungle Theater and Ensemble Studio Theatre. She's developed work for/with Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova, Woolly Mammoth, and Kansas City Repertory Theatre, and currently holds commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Studio Theatre, and Portland Center Stage. Her writing has been supported by residencies at SPACE on Ryder Farm and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. Her prose appears or is forthcoming in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Catapult, Kenyon Review Online, and Longreads, among other places.

For more information visit: please visit: www.larktheatre.org.

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