DIASPORA NEWS

From Africa, The Americas, Caribbean & the rest of the world.

Kenya’s Shariffa Ali’s Winner of Hermitage Theater Award

Andy Sandberg, CEO and artistic director of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, has announced that theater artist and director Shariffa Ali has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA).

Established by the Hermitage last year with support from the Kutya Major Foundation, the national jury-selected prize offers one of the largest nonprofit theater commissions in the country. Ali will receive a cash prize of $35,000, as well as a residency at the Hermitage in Sarasota County, Florida, and a developmental workshop in the fall of 2023 in Chicago, New York, or London.

Ali’s past directorial credits include Eclipsed, Detroit ’67, Intimate Apparel, We Are Proud to Present, and the original musical We Were Everywhere. She has worked as an arts administrator at the Public Theater and the New Group, and she has taught at New York University, Brooklyn College, Yale University, and Princeton University. She is the second recipient of the HMTA, which was first awarded in 2021 to playwright and filmmaker Radha Blank.

Your comments, ideas, and thoughts matter.

Drop us a line: