Alumnus Harrison David Rivers '09 won the 2018 Relentless Award for The Bandaged Place. The Relentless Award was established by The American Playwriting Foundation in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman after his passing. It is dedicated to Hoffman’s pursuit of truth in the theater and it’s the largest annual cash prize in American theater awarded to a playwright in recognition of a new play.
In The Bandaged Place, Jonah Irby receives a phone call from his former lover and is forced to deal with traumatic events from his past. He is forced to turn to his preternaturally gifted eight year old daughter, her ballet instructor, and his nosy grandmother for support.
Harrison David Rivers is a Minnesota based playwright who is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Drama at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. His plays include: When Last We Flew (GLAAD Media Award, NYFringe Excellence in Playwriting Award, NYFringe, Diversionary Theatre, TheatreLAB, Real Live Theatre), Sweet (AUDELCO nomination for Best Play, National Black Theatre), And She Would Stand Like This (20% Theatre Company, The Movement Theatre Company), Where Storms Are Born (Berkshire Theatre Award nomination for Best New Play, Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, Williamstown), A Crack in the Sky (History Theatre), Five Points (MN Theatre Award Nominee for Exceptional New Work, Theatre Latte Da), This Bitter Earth ((MN Theatre Award Nominee for Exceptional New Work, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Penumbra, About Face), and To Let Go and Fall (Theatre Latte Da). He has received McKnight and Many Voices Jerome Fellowships, a Van Lier Fellowship, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship and New York Stage & Film’s Founders’ Award.