EAG's Barbour Award Finalists Readings Set For Next Month

The Episcopal Actors' Guild has announced that the Barbour Playwrights Award will return for its eighteenth year this June. The festival celebrating new work for the theatre will feature readings of three new plays nominated by this year's partnering company Rising Sun Performance Company.

The festival begins on Monday, June 9 at 7:00 pm ET with a reading of Kati Frazier's Radio Eulogy. Next, on Monday, June 16 at 7:00 pm ET is The Armando Project by Orlando F. Rodriguez. Closing the festival on Monday, June 23 at 7:00 pm ET is Lakshmi Counts Her Arms and Legs by Holly Hepp-Galvan. One of these three playwright finalists will be awarded a prize of $500.

In 2007, EAG established this special award to honor the legacy of actor, playwright, and EAG member Thomas Barbour (Arthur, Great White Hope) whose support for emerging artists was an inspiration to many. To date, the Barbour Playwrights Award has presented staged readings of 48 new plays and given $9,000 to local playwrights.

Past winners of the Barbour Playwrights Award include Kristine M. Reyes (Eggs on Ice, Atlantic Pacific Theatre, 2024), Jon Krupp (Kilonova, Playwrights Gallery, 2023), Stephen Kaplan (Un Hombre: A Golem Story, The Skeleton Rep(resents), 2022), Garrett David Kim (Are You There, Truman? Leviathan Lab, 2021), Reynaldo Piniella (Black Doves, Quick Silver Theater Company, 2019), Alexis Roblan (The Andrew Play, New Perspectives Theatre Company's Women's Work Project, 2018), Andrea J. Fulton (A Punk or A Gentleman, Theater for a New City, 2017), Perry Guzzi (Across the Way, HB Studios, 2016), Dara O'Brien (Early Sunday Morning (Resonance Ensemble, 2015), Mark Karafin (Man in the Moon, Oberon Theatre Ensemble, 2014), Bill Cosgriff (Rio Rita, American Renaissance Theatre Company, 2013), Aaron Jafferis (How to Break, HERE, 2012), Ian August (Donna Orbits the Moon, NJ Rep, 2011), Lynn Rosen (Apple Cove, Women's Project, 2010 tie), Laura Eason (40 Days, Women's Project, 2010 tie), Alisha Silver (Golden, Hunter College, 2009), and Jack Frankel (Human Voices, Polaris North, 2008).

The Barbour Award was established and endowed by Janet Barbour Carhart, Alison Barbour Fox, and from a portion of the gift left to EAG by Mr. Thomas Barbour's estate. All proceeds from the staged readings of the Barbour finalists' plays go directly to supporting future Barbour Awards.

About the Plays

Kati Frazier's Radio Eulogy (Monday, June 9, 2025 @ 7pm)

What do you do with the memory of an abuser? How do you tell the story of your trauma when you don't get to triumph in the end? When closure becomes unattainable, how do you close the book on your pain? Radio Eulogy grapples with what our fathers owe us, what we owe them, and the insurmountable distance in between.

Orlando F. Rodriguez's The Armando Project (Monday, June 16, 2025 @ 7pm)

Class of '06 cabrones!! Raised in Southwest Texas, shit's been rough for this straight vato who hates sports and monster trucks but loves wine coolers. After getting cast in some play called “The Laramie Project,” has he found his place, or should he just stick with the homies? How long can he remain in the middle?

Holly Hepp-Galvan's Lakshmi Counts Her Arms and Legs (Monday, June 23, 2025 @ 7pm)