Mila Golubov's NOVAYA ZEMLYA Wins Best Play at 2013 Downtown Urban Theater Festival

Novaya Zemlya, written by Mila Golubov, won BEST PLAY at the 11th Annual Season of the Downtown Urban Theater Festival (DUTF). The festival featured 16 new works and ran from February 27 to March 16, 2013 at HERE in SoHo, Manhattan, NYC.

The complete list of honored plays include:

BEST PLAY CATEGORY
Winner - Novaya Zemlya by Mila Golubov
Directed by Daniella Caggiano
Assistant Directed and Stage Managed by Caitlin Cunningham
Dramaturgy by Rosa Schneider
Sound Design by Ien Denio
Lighting Design by Andrea Kung
Starring: Liba Vaynberg, Kevin Russo, Thami Moscovici, Ben Prayz, Robert Eigen and Alisa Glembotski

Second Place - Buttaflysoul for President by Leslie "Buttaflysoul" Taylor
Third Place - El Gringuito by Eric-Dominique Perez

BEST SHORT CATEGORY
Winner - The Bridge by Kate McCamy
Second Place - Rude by Ismail Azeem
Third Place - The Last Day of Oscar Wilde's Life by Adam Esquenazi Douglas

AUDIENCE AWARD
Winner - B-Boy Blues by James Earl Hardy

Written by Brooklyn-based Mila Golubov, Novaya Zemlya is an epic story that travels from the Ukrainian country side to Brooklyn, USA as one family mix the shocking revelation over the last ten years with a healthy dose of youth libido. Golubov's plays have been featured in the Milk Can C.O.W series, We Are Theatre night at the Cherry Lane, United Solo Festival, Dixon Place HOTfest, EATfest, Style & Sects Fest, Player's Theater and the Gutter Drunk series by Hyper Aware Theatre Co.

In 2013, DUTF had a record- and ground-breaking season by selling-out 11 of 12 performance nights, surpassing the 130th play-produced milestone and premiering post-performance community dialogues hosted by Tony-nominee Reg E. Gaines and Obie-winner Miguel Algarin, supported in part by a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities.

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 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. It has been recognized as "one of the world's best festivals for new works" and described as "not only prestigious, but a slice of heaven for playwrights who want the chance to freely express themselves." (Lisa Mulcahy, Theater Festivals, Allworth Press, 2005)

Visit DUTF online on Facebook and www.dutfnyc.com.

Pictured: Cast of Novaya Zemlya having fun after the performance. Writer Mila Golubov on far right. Photo Credit: Monica Lerch.