The curtain is rising for a local Oakville playwright, who won first prize for the RBC Emerging Playwrights Award last week.
The 2024 recipients of Canada's Tom Hendry Awards were announced on Oct. 28 at a ceremony presented by the Playwrights Guild of Canada last week in Toronto. The annual Tom Hendry Awards celebrate playwrights and theatre-creators across the country for excellence in new work.
York graduate Mercedes Isaza Clunie received first prize for the RBC Emerging Playwrights Award with her play Gringas.
"Gringas is a beautifully written poetic piece that dissects what it means to be perceived. A funny, imaginative work that plays with metaphor and has created a strong ensemble of characters," quoted peer assessment panel for the RBC Emerging Playwrights Award.
The play is, according to press notes, "a magical-realism coming of age story about 7 first- and second-generation Latina immigrants forced to attend a Spanish-only summer camp in Muskoka, Ontario, by their mothers in attempts to reconnect with their Latin-American roots."
Mercedes Isaza Clunie is a queer, Chilean Canadian award-winning playwright, actor, and poet from Toronto. She holds a BFA in Acting from York University where she wrote and directed two of her own plays Splinters (2023) and Prude (2022).
Mercedes' work commonly explores topics such as girlhood, culture, sexuality, and language through diverse formats that both disrupt traditional conventions and celebrate the essence of theatre.
These national awards celebrate outstanding new Canadian plays, which bring to life a variety of characters and tell a diversity of stories. PGC celebrates recipients in seven distinct writing categories and two special awards.
The event was hosted by Jamie Robinson, a Toronto professional actor, director, producer and educator.
The Tom Hendry Awards, according to the Playwrights Guild, "shine a spotlight on the wealth and breadth of new Canadian creations. Past shortlisted plays have gained national and international attention, highlighting the extraordinary talents of our stage writers."
Playwrights Guild of Canada encourages everyone to search for these and other Canadian plays on local stages or to invite a playwright to do a reading in your community.
Include plays in your reading lists by visiting us online at the Canadian Play Outlet. Search for the 2024 Tom Hendry Bundle or choose from a wide array of plays from across the country.
To read more about the 2024 award recipients, visit The Tom Hendry Awards - Playwrights Guild of Canada online.