Stanley Drama Award This Evening

THE 2006 STANLEY DRAMA AWARD RECIPIENT

Richard Aellen – Farmers of Men

The Winning Playwright - Richard Aellen is a playwright and novelist who studied English at Santa Monica College and Theater, Film, and Creative Writing at Hunter College and Columbia University.  Among Richard’s plays that have received productions are Square One at the Manhattan Punchline Theater, NY; Right to Remain Silent at the Actor’s Repertory Theater, NY; Forgotten Verdict produced at Northern Michigan University; Water Quench Fire at Wichita State University; and Surprise Visit by Proudly Presents Productions in Pittsburgh.          

Richard has written five novels which are international thrillers: No Sanctuary, Redeye, Crux, Flashpoint, The Cain Conversion as well as a young adult novel called Ozzy on The Outside.  His teaching experience ranges from writing courses taught at New School University (1998-2002) to all phases of flight and ground instruction at various flight schools in Fort Lauderdale and Santa Monica. He and his wife Marty Nealon have no children but dogs who think they are.   

The Winning Play - Farmers of Men a two-act play

The play is loosely based on the life of Cesar Chavez, the founder of the United Farm Workers. The tone is lively and imaginative with politics the backdrop rather than center stage. The style is episodic, fluid, and theatrical. 

A glimpse of Chavez in 1943 would find a teenage Chavez drinking beer with his buddies and yahooing the girls. Twenty years later, the buddies are still drinking beer but Cesar is in a monastery engaged in a spiritual fast with hundreds of people outside praying for him as he receives telegrams from Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.   Some mysterious alchemy has transformed Cesar from a pachuco to the leader of a social revolution. 

Co-Hosts for the Awards

Sarah Madej ’04 traveled this past year to El Salvador as part of an international theatre company to perform the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with the National Symphony Orchestra. Last year, she participated in the reading of a new musical based on Helen of Troy called Choosing Helen at the York Theatre. Sarah has performed regionally and at numerous public and political events in New York City. Currently, Sara is both a researcher for Nightly News, and co-Director for a musical showcase of new composers at Theatre 315 set for May 24, 2006.

Gregory Rose ’05 recently graduated as a theater performance major from Wagner College. He can be seen next in Snug Harbor Cultural Center’s production of Guys and Dolls as Benny Southstreet, followed his performance as Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast this summer at Park Playhouse in Albany, NY.

Stanley Drama Award Presenter - Drew Scott Harris (Director) has directed Broadway (Ain't Broadway Grand), off-Broadway (Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, as well as the NY premiere of Opal at the Lambs Theatre [nominated for four Outer Critics Circle Awards] and Fame), and in regional and university theatres across the country. Nationally, he has directed over 150 productions as diverse as three years of Princeton Triangle shows, Guys and Dolls (Atlanta's Alliance Theatre), The Mikado 2050 (Candlewood Playhouse), a regional tour of Rocky Horror Picture Show and a national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, which won Chicago's Jefferson Award for Best Musical while also receiving 11 other Jeff nominations.

THE STANLEY AWARD

The national competition, administered by Wagner College Theatre Department, was established in 1957 by Mrs. Alma Timolat Stanley to encourage and support aspiring playwrights.  The award carries with it a $2,000 monetary prize as well as the distinction of joining an illustrious list of past Stanley Award winners that include playwrights such as Lonne Elder III, Jonathan Larson, and Terrance McNally.

Past judges for the contest include such notable playwrights as Edward Albee and Paul Zindel, actresses Geraldine Page and Kim Stanley, and TV producer David Susskind. The play writing contest is coordinated by Professor Felicia Ruff and Kevin Kane of Wagner College.

PAST RECIPIENTS

   2005 Mother, May I, Dylan Brody

   2004 Be Our Joys, Joseph Zaitchik;

   2003 Skin of a Lawyer, Richard Kalinoski

   2002 How High the Moon, Timothy Jay Smith

   2001 And Neither Have I Wings to Fly, Anne Noble Massey