LeeAnne Hill Adams' "Archipelago" produced at BYU last spring
Brigham Young University alumna LeeAnne Hill Adams has won the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award for her original play, “Archipelago,” which was produced at BYU last spring.
Adams has been invited to the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference in Toronto this August where her play will receive a script-in-hand reading.
“Archipelago” is a drama about the imprisonment of Russian intellectuals and artists in the Gulag Archipelago by Stalin’s secret police. Moving freely from grotesque humor to startling personal testimonies from the survivors’ journals, stories and poetry, the work has great impact.
“It’s one of the most prestigious awards for a playwright in this country, open to any working playwright in the United States,” said Eric Samuelsen, head of the creative writing program in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts. “To have one of our former students win is a great honor. LeeAnne is a wonderful writer, and we’re very excited for her.”
Adams graduated from BYU with a master’s degree in theatre history, theory and criticism in 2002.
The David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award is presented in an effort to promote the writing and production of new plays, while honoring and perpetuating the memory of David Mark Cohen, professor of playwriting at the University of Texas-Austin.
For more information, contact LeeAnne Hill Adams at (801) 553-1062.
Writer: Elizabeth Funk
