World's Largest Playwright Competition For Writing Tragedy Selects 2019 Winner

The inaugural Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition has selected playwright Gabriel Jason Dean as its winner for his play In Bloom. Dean was awarded $8,000 plus a travel stipend to workshop the piece in Victoria, B.C.

The Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition is the world's largest playwright competition for the writing of tragedy. This year they had 182 playwrights from 11 countries participated.

The competition runs in partnership with Canada's Langham Court Theatre, and was founded by Edwin Wong, author of the new book, The Risk Theatre Model of Tragedy: Gambling, Drama, and the Unexpected [Friesen Press, 2019].

Runners-up included:
Michael Bucklin for Signature Photo
Scott McCrea for Mysterious Ecstasy of the Lonely Business Traveler
Philip Christian Smith for The Chechens
J.D. Volk for Chrysalis

Bios of the jurors, the playwrights, and synopses of the plays are available at: www.risktheatre.com/winners

The 2020 Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy competition is now accepting entries at www.risktheatre.com.

EDWIN WONG is an award-winning classicist with a master's degree from Brown University, where he concentrated in ancient theatre. His other research interests include epic poetry, where he has published a solution to the contradiction between Homeric fate and free will by drawing attention to the peculiar mechanics of chess endgames.

Edwin Wong founded the Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Playwright Competition with Langham Court Theatre to align tragedy with the modern fascination with uncertainty and chance. It is the world's largest competition for the writing of tragedy (visit risktheatre.com for details). Wong lives in Victoria, BC.

For more information, visit www.melpomeneswork.com and connect with Wong on Facebook, LinkedIn and Goodreads.

The Risk Theatre Model of Tragedy is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.