Apply for CTG's $10,000 Sherwood Award Through June 15

Center Theatre Group's annual Richard E. Sherwood Award, a $10,000 award designed to nurture innovative and adventurous emerging Los Angeles theatre artists, is open for application now through June 15, 2015.

Applications are available at www.centertheatregroup.org/Sherwood. CTG will host two application orientation sessions at the Music Center Annex on Saturday, June 6 at 11 a.m. and Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to RSVP for an orientation session, email Sherwood@CenterTheatreGroup.org.

The goal of the Sherwood Award is to cultivate emerging local artists and invite them to engage in a professional relationship with CTG. Applicants must be dedicated to improving the future of their respective artistic fields, demonstrate leadership qualities and push existing boundaries. Artists are not limited by title, role or genre but must have a relationship to the art of performance. In addition to the main prize, the two runner-up finalists to the Sherwood Award, will each be awarded with $2,000 honorariums.

Past recipients of the Richard E. Sherwood Award include Los Angeles artists Sean Cawelti of Rogue Artists Ensemble, Miranda Wright of Los Angeles Performance Practice, Lars Jan of Early Morning Opera, lighting designer Christopher Kuhl, and costume designer Ann Closs-Farley, among others. The 2016 Sherwood Award recipient will be announced at the 2015 LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards.

Originally created in 1996, the Sherwood Award has met a vital need in the theatre landscape. "If we are to have a dynamic theatre expressing the world of the 21st century, we must recognize and nourish the explorative artist, particularly in the struggle of the early years of a career," said Dorothy Sherwood, wife of Richard E. Sherwood.

Richard E. Sherwood was a patron of the arts with a special appreciation for emerging artists who are in the vanguard of theatre. He was president and then chairman of the CTG Board of Directors from 1980 until his passing in 1993. The award is established as an endowed fund at CTG by his family, friends, colleagues and fellow board members, to honor Sherwood's passionate commitment to theatre.