Photo by Beowulf Sheehan

Playwright and Lecturer in Theater Anne Washburn has received a 2016 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts for her risk-taking work in theatre. This past spring at the Lewis Center, Washburn led the theater course, “Intermediate Playwriting,” helping students gain a firmer understanding of characterization, dialogue, structure, and the playwriting process.

Administered by the California Institute of the Arts, the Herb Alpert Award is a prize of $75,000 given annually to five mid-career artists working in the fields of dance, film/video, music, theatre and the visual arts. The award recognizes experimenters who are making something that matters within and beyond their field.

Washburn’s most recent work, Antlia Pneumatica, is a haunting play set deep in Texas Hill Country where estranged friends confront their slippery past. It premiered at Playwrights Horizons in March and was named a Critic’s Pick by Time Out New York.

“I feel like plays are for writing what you don’t know, what puzzles you. I write where I am curious.”
— Anne Washburn

To learn more about Washburn, read her full bio here or check out her interview with Maria Goyanes, associate producer of The Public Theater NYC.