Lisa Langford Named 2026 Dominic Orlando Playwriting Award Recipient

The Dominic Orlando Fund, with support from the Venturous Theater Fund, has revealed the fourth recipient of the Dominic Orlando Playwriting Award: Lisa Langford. The three finalists for the award were Marvin González De León, Denmo Ibrahim, and Alix Sobler. Langford will receive a $12,000 unrestricted award.

Langford is a Cleveland-based playwright and actor. Her play 'Rastus and Hattie' received a Joyce Award in 2019 and was a finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwright Conference and an honorable mention on the Kilroys list. Other plays include 'How Blood Go,' 'The Art of Longing,' 'The Bomb,' and 'Revolt.Ing.' She is an Artistic Associate of Black Lives Black Words and a member of Dobama Theatre's Playwrights' Gym. Her winning play 'Netta & Ru' will have its world premiere at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights in 2027.

Former Award recipient Christian St. Croix, who served on the selection panel, found Langford's play to be 'smart and bold, carrying stories usually told in cupped-hand whispers into the spotlight.' The panel determined that Langford was well-deserving of this particular award because, as St. Croix says, 'she takes passionate and marvelous swings with her stage tales, and that indie spirit feels very much in line with what this award is about.'

Langford was nominated for the award by Nathan Motta, Artistic Director of Dobama Theatre. Motta describes her as 'among the most treasured theater artists in our region. As a playwright,' he continues, 'her work speaks for itself. Her plays often explore the breadth and depth of the Black experience in America-from generational trauma to the humanity of the people behind the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Yet, while examining these weighty ideas, her plays are engrossing and accessible.' Motta expresses excitement for the impact of this award on her career, saying, 'Given Lisa's writing, resume, and career, she should be recognized on a much larger scale so that other theatres and communities can share her work. I think that the recognition and financial award that comes with the Dominic Orlando Playwriting Award would do much to reveal Lisa's extraordinary gifts to the American theatre and beyond.'

Dominic Orlando began his career in theater, co-running the No-Pants Theatre Company, a small independent company in New York, where he wrote, directed, and produced many of his plays. In 2003, he moved to Minneapolis on a Playwrights' Center Jerome Fellowship, where he then stayed for many years, creating work with a myriad of local theaters, including the company he co-founded, the Workhaus Collective. In 2015, he moved to Los Angeles and began a successful career writing for television, working on numerous series, including 'Them,' 'The OA,' 'Mindhunter,' 'Outer Range,' and 'Nightflyers.' Orlando died on November 17, 2021.

The Dominic Orlando Fund was created in the spirit of Orlando's life and work to support writers with an 'unconventional career' who have forged their own paths by producing their own work, running their own independent companies, and/or artists who have taken artistic risks without finding significant financial or material support from large institutional theaters or philanthropic organizations. There is a special interest in recognizing writers who have made a continued commitment to smaller-budget theater companies and ensembles and helped them push the boundaries of what theater and playwriting can be. Previous recipients of the award are José Casas, Christian St. Croix, and David Johann Kim, and Playwrights' Center serves as fiscal sponsor.

The application cycle in 2025 was the first in which the award opened to both nominations and direct applications. Theaters were invited to nominate playwrights whom they consider to match the spirit of the award, and those writers were invited to apply. Additionally, individual writers were able to apply along with a statement of support from an arts organization. The application pool was capped at 50 applications, resulting in the largest application pool in the award's history.

An initial evaluation round was conducted by playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, and long-time collaborators of both Dominic Orlando and the Playwrights' Center. After a finalist pool was identified, a selection panel met and selected Lisa Langford. The panel this year consisted of Karin Bowersock, Deborah Stein, and Christian St. Croix, led by Advisory Board member Cory Hinkle.

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