Finalists Revealed for 2025 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award

The American Theatre Critics and Journalists Association has revealed six finalists for the 2025 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, recognizing the playwrights who produced the best scripts that premiered professionally outside of New York City in 2024.
 
The top award, which carries a $25,000 honorarium, and two citations valued at $7,500 each, will be presented on May 2 at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, Calif., as part of the annual Pacific Playwrights Festival. At $40,000, Steinberg/ATCA is the largest national new play award program of its kind.
 
“Our regional theaters remain the most vital incubators for new work,” said Cameron Kelsall, a theater critic based in Philadelphia and ATCA member who serves as chair of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Committee. “ATCA relishes the chance to recognize these worthy plays that premiered outside of New York City last year, which demonstrate the exciting work taking place in every corner of the country.”
 
In 1977, ATCA began to honor new plays produced at regional theaters, as a way of balancing the existing awards landscape, which often focuses on works produced in New York. No play is eligible if it has gone on to a New York production within the award year. Since 2000, the award has been generously funded by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
 

The 2025 finalists, listed alphabetically by title, are:

 
An Army of Lovers by R. Eric Thomas, produced by Azuka Theatre (Philadelphia, PA)
 
Galilee, 34 by Eleanor Burgess, produced by South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA)
 
The Janeid by Anna Ziegler, produced by Alley Theatre (Houston, TX)
 
Judgment Day by Rob Ulin, produced by Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Chicago, IL)
 
Little Bear Ridge Road by Samuel D. Hunter, produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL)
 
Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL)
 
These six finalists were selected from eligible scripts recommended by ATCA members from around the country and evaluated by a committee of theater journalists, led by Cameron Kelsall (Philadelphia, PA). Other participating committee members included Nancy Bishop (Chicago, IL), Lindsay Christians (Madison, WI), Amanda Finn (Chicago, IL), Mike Fischer (Milwaukee, WI), Melissa Hall (Indianapolis, IN), Lou Harry (Indianapolis, IN), Ed Huyck (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN), Martha Wade Steketee (New York, NY), Doug Strassler (New York, NY), and Bob Verini (Boston, MA).
 
ATCA and the Steinberg Foundation also wish to dedicate this year's awards to Misha Berson. A longtime ATCA member and theater journalist from Seattle, Berson co-chaired the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Committee with Cameron Kelsall from 2021 until her death on February 13, 2025. “Misha was a fierce advocate for new play development, and this award meant so much to her,” said Kelsall. “I can think of no greater way to honor her memory, and her life's work, than to continue the tradition in which she proudly participated.”
 
Past recipients of ATCA's New Play Award include August Wilson, Lynn Nottage, Lanford Wilson, Lee Blessing, Michael Cristofer, Marsha Norman, Lauren Yee, Moises Kaufman, and Qui Nguyen. Last year's honoree was The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh.

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