Cha Ramos '21 Wins 2024 Drama Desk Award for Fight Choreography
Update:
Winners of the 2024 Drama Desk Awards were announced this week, and Dramaturgy alumna Cha Ramos '21 has won the award for Outstanding Fight Choreography in Water for Elephants.
The hit play follows a young man who escapes his life by jumping a train and joining a traveling circus—where he finds new love and belonging beyond his wildest dreams.
The play also secured four additional awards, making a significant impact at this year's ceremony. Water for Elephants was recognized for Outstanding Direction of a Musical, Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical, Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical, and Outstanding Puppetry.
Cha Ramos is a fight director, intimacy director, dramaturg, playwright, performer, and instructor. Notable credits include: fight and intimacy direction for Dom Juan (Fisher Center at Bard College); associate intimacy direction for Company and Jagged Little Pill (Broadway); dramaturgy for new works by José Rivera and [Professor] Leslie Ayvazian; performing with the Vixens En Garde all-female sword-fighting Shakespeare comedy troupe; and ongoing development of her three original plays.
See the full list of winners here.
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Original: May 14, 2024
The nominees for the 68th annual Drama Desk Awards have been revealed, including three Columbia alumni. Recognizing the best plays in Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway, the Awards will announce the winners on June 10, 2024 at The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
Playwriting alumna Jocelyn Bioh ’08 has been nominated for Best Play with Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Set in a lively Harlem salon, the play portrays a day in the life of West African immigrant hair braiders who are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women. During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed. The uncertainty of their circumstances simmers below the surface of their lives, and when it boils over, it forces this tight-knit community to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home.
Playwriting alumnus Julián Mesri ’20 is up for Best Adaptation with his vibrant rendition of The Comedy of Errors. This play embraces contemporary music styles from Latin America in a tale of separation and reunion. Featuring live actor-musicians, this modern musical adaptation brings a vibrant energy to an age-old tale of two sets of twins separated by stormy seas as they overcome a baffling case of mistaken identity—and the mayhem and hilarious confusion that follows.
Dramaturgy alumna Cha Ramos '21 has earned a nomination for Best Fight Choreography in Water for Elephants. After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the road will take him and finds a new home with the remarkable crew of a traveling circus, and a life—and love—beyond his wildest dreams.
The Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York City theatre awards for which productions on Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway compete against each other in the same categories. The Awards are voted on by theatre critics, journalists, editors, and publishers.
For a full list of nominations, click here.