When: Friday, February 10, 4:30 p.m.
Where: Class of '56 Dance Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
A staged reading of the winning play and a screening of an excerpt from the winning screenplay will be presented by undergraduate students. Following the presentations will be a panel discussion with Felischa Marye (screenwriter), Roaslie Purvis (PhD candidate at Cornell University), and Maria Striar (producing artistic director and a founder of Clubbed Thumb theater company).
PMA associate professor Beth Milles directs the winning stage play; PMA assistant professor Dehanza Rogers directs the winning screenplay, with cinematography by Justin Perkinson.
The Drama Book Shop award will also be presented during this event. Each year, members of the PMA department faculty and staff vote for a Cornell senior who has demonstrated Outstanding Achievement in Theatre. The winner receives a $100 gift certificate for the Drama Book Shop.
2016–17 Winners
Screenplays
First place: Whole Hearted by Molly Karr '18
Second place: Child's Play by Clare Dingle '17
Honorable mention: Triggered by Aleksej Aarsaether '17
Stage Plays
First place: The Diary of an American Girl by Aleksej Aarsaether '17
Second place: Linajes Reales by Irving Torres '18
Honorable mention: Booty Call by Teagan Todd
The Heermans-McCalmon awards were established at the bequest of Forbes Heermans (Class of 1878) and in memory of the late George McCalmon, Professor of Speech and Drama. A dramatic writing contest is held every year for Cornell undergraduate students for original plays that inspire, engage, interrogate or reimagine some aspect of life in America. The contest this year was for ten-minute scripts in the categories of both screenplays and stage plays.
The first-place winners are given $250, Final Draft software, and student membership to the Dramatist Guild, and the second-place winners receive $100.
This event is free and open to the public. The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts is located at 430 College Avenue, Ithaca, NY 14850, in the heart of Ithaca's Collegetown.
