Member Awards

Sharon Baker's two act comedy, BIRTHDAY PARTY AT THE DALAI LAMA'S PALACE received a reading on Zoom, July 19, 2pm.

Presented by the Dramatists Guild of America in their Footlights New Plays program, the reading was videotaped. Anyone wishing to

see the reading, contact Sharon Baker, email: sharonspencelieb@gmail.com.

My play, "The Docent" is the winner of the 2020 Jerry Kaufman Award for Excellence in Playwriting given each year by American Renaissance Theatre Company. 

My full-length play Charlotte's Letters  was selected by Attic Salt Theater Company as a winner of the 2020 Rising Artists Playwriting Competition.

My play "Fridge" was selected for Kairos Italy Theater's International Women in Comedy Ten-Minute Play Festival (performed online in May 2020), where it won 2nd Place Audience-Choice Award. The top three plays including "Fridge" were translated into Italian and performed in the Lucidosottile Festival (online) on June 6, 2020.

Hummingbird in Underworld: Teaching in a Men's Prison by ICWP member Deborah Tobola won a 2019 Nautilus Silver Book Award in the category of Heroic Journeys.

"The Victorian Ladies Detective Collective," by ICWP member Patricia Milton, has been nominated by San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle (SFBATCC) for Outstanding Production in a theater with fewer than 100 seats, in both the East Bay, and overall SF Bay Area.

The 2019 production, by Central Works Theater, was recommended by Theatre Bay Area and earned a "Go See!" designation by the SFBATCC.

https://www.criticscircle.org/excellence-in-theatre-awards/2020-noms-for-2019/

In February 2020, I was awarded second place in the Robert J. Pickering Playwrighting Excellence for my play Dear Anita Bryant. I suddenly realized that I'm actually a playwright!

In November, my play Equally Divine: The Real Story of The Mona Lisa received the 2019 Best Documentary One-Woman Show Award at the United Solo Festival in New York City. 

In February 2019 I received the news that I had been awarded a commission from the Washington National Opera at  The Kennedy Center. There were approximately 85 semi- finalists for the award. My commission as librettist (author of the story line and words) and the commission of the composer, Carlos Simon, constitutes a team for the creation of a new opera.  

Here's the link:

https://www.kennedy-center.org/wno/mto/AOIInfo  

In September I went to DC for a week of rehearsals at the Washington National Opera's rehearsal hall with the composer, conductor, singers. This was the first time I had heard it sung. It was wonderful! On Saturday, September 21st there was a workshop performance at the REACH, a brand new facility at the Kennedy Center.

On Friday, January 10th, I returned  to DC for the premiere at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theatre.

Here's the link:

https://www.kennedy-center.org/wno/mto/AOIInfo  

Night Trip was reviewed on Monday, January 13th in the Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/at-the-kennedy-center-wnos-opera-initiative-unveils-a-trio-of-novelties/2020/01/11/d6610810-34ad-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html

On Saturday January 11, it was reviewed in the Washington Classical Review:

https://washingtonclassicalreview.com/2020/01/11/wnos-american-opera-initiative-serves-up-an-intriguing-trio-of-new-works/

Sandra de Helen's "Desire Returns for a Visit" collection of lesbian poetry tied for 2nd place for the 2018-2019 Rainbow Award. The book is published by Launch Point Press and is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.