Downtown Urban Theater Festival Announces Finalists for 2013 Season

Next year will mark the much-anticipated 11th annual season of the Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF) and from 120 submissions, DUTF has narrowed it down to 24 finalists. The decisions were extremely difficult due to the amazing plays received from gifted emerging writers who hail from across the U.S. and internationally from Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom.

After three weeks of review by the DUTF team and Artistic Director Reg E. Gaines, Tony-nominated for Bring in da Noise Bring in da Funk, the finalists are:

Adam Esquenazi Douglas (The Last Day of Oscar Wilde’s Life)
Anselmo Martinez (Help Wanted)
Barbara Kahn (Crossings)
Chima Chikazunga (3 the Hard Way)
D. L. Siegel (Chosen)
Dana Tarantino (Gravy)
Edward McWIlliams (Underground)
Eric Dominique-Perez (El Gringuito)
Hillary Hawkins (Jade The Musical)
Ismail Azeem (Rude)
James Earl Hardy (B-Boy Blues)
Joi Shui (True Asian Hottie)
Kate McCamy (The Bridge)
Keelay Gipson (Ni****/Fa****)
Lavinia Roberts (The Rules of the World)
Leah King (Can I Get a Smile)
Leslie Taylor (ButtaFlySoul for President)
Liz Magee (The Attendant)
Michael Bettencourt (The Sin Eater)
Mila Golubov (Novaya Zemlya)
Milta Ortiz (You, Me, and Tuno)
Ming Peiffer (Pornography for the People)
Nelson Diaz-Marcano (The Prison Song)
Ross Evans (Team Awesome)

In the coming weeks, the finalists will participate in one-on-one interviews and later in November the 15 plays accepted into DUTF 2013 will the announced.

In 2001, DUTF was founded with the purpose to build a repertoire of new American theatre that echoes the true spirit of urban life and speaks to a whole new generation whose lives defy categorizing along conventional lines. That purpose has been realized many times over, as more than 100 writers have created and refined their work for the stage and thousands of inspired audience members have applauded their performances. DUTF inaugurated the festival in 2002 at HERE in SoHo to help revitalize the NYC downtown arts scene, which, at the time, was experiencing a severe downturn due to the WTC disaster.

Visit DUTF online at www.facebook.com/pages/Downtown-Urban-Theater-Festival/152194641470752, www.twitter.com/DUTFNYC and https://www.youtube.com/dutfnyc.