Theater News

Gracie Gardner Receives the American Playwriting Foundation's 2017 Relentless Award

The award is presented in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Gracie Gardner receives the 2017 Relentless Award, presented by the American Playwriting Foundation in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Gracie Gardner receives the 2017 Relentless Award, presented by the American Playwriting Foundation in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman.
(© Tristan Fuge)

The American Playwriting Foundation has selected Gracie Gardner as the recipient of the 2017 Relentless Award. The largest annual cash prize in American theater presented to a play, the award was established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman and his pursuit of truth in the theater.

This year’s Relentless Award winner, Pussy Sludge, is about a young woman who is also an oil well. The play is described as "a tender exploration of questioning authority, suspending shame through intimacy, and very bad advice." The playwright, Gracie Gardner, will be awarded $45,000 and the play will receive a national rollout in American theater, with staged readings at some of the most esteemed theaters in the country.

The eight women named as winner, finalists, and semifinalists were selected through a blind judging process from 1,000 submissions by a committee comprised of some of America’s top playwrights. The three finalists are Kate Cortesi, Mara Nelson-Greenberg, and Paola Lázaro, with Gina Femia, Martyna Majok, Jen Silverman, and Philana Omorotionmwan selected as semifinalists.

The winning playwright will also have a weeklong residency with a cast and director at SPACE on Ryder Farm, an artist residency program housed on a working organic farm in Brewster, New York.