Playbill | Director’s Notes

The first Creative Artist Award winning play was Michael Seebold’s Spyglass Seven selected in 2012. Over the life of the award, there have been 17 winners and honorable mentions. The number and quality of the plays anonymously submitted has increased every year. The most substantial difference from the circumstances from the initial years is the focus on new-play development.

Beginning in 2019, University Theatre partnered with Tamara Kissane, area playwright and 2020 Piedmont laureate, stating, “Writers lose momentum without access to the tools needed for their craft, without the opportunity to share their work with the community, and without dedicated motivators and mentors to help them navigate creative obstacles.” Tamara offers workshops for students preparing to write a Creative Artist [submission] and coaches winning playwrights in their revision process.

These plays also receive multiple readings and discussions with the audience to provide them with feedback to refine their work. Between the one-on-one conversations with Tamara and frank discussions with audiences and participants during the readings, we’re able to collectively create both the community and the tools for playwrights to refine these beautiful plays you see produced through our Studio Series.

What you see tonight is the seventh draft of Teletype and Wyat is the tenth winning playwright, eleventh winning play, and second two-time winner, Lethean won an Honorable Mention in 2023-2024.

About the Creative Artist Award

To apply for this year’s award, visit https://go.ncsu.edu/artawards.