Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee has served a two-year appointment as the first judge of The Yale Drama Series. In 2007, Mr. Albee chose John Austin Connolly's "The Boys from Siam" as the winning play in the annual competition. 2007 also marked the first year the international Horn Prize was awarded. Dr. Connolly, an Irish citizen, is a retired clinical psychologist living in Dublin with his wife and five grown up children.

 

After leaving private practice, he took an M.A. in Scriptwriting in 2001. In 2004 he had his first play for children, 'Who Killed Granny?' given a staged reading at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and the following year had two plays short-listed for the Fishamble Temple Bar Theatre Festival. He commenced 'The Boys from Siam' in 2005, following the birth and early death of conjoined twins in Dublin. His story 'Crochet' was short-listed for the Francis McManus Short Story Competition 2008. He is completing his next play and also two prose works.

 

Mr. Connolly is represented by Mr. Peter Franklin, William Morris Agency, and 'The Boys from Siam' is currently with a number of theatres in the U.S. for consideration.

  

The award ceremony was held at the Levitt Penthouse at Lincoln Center in New York City April 2007. Tony and Oscar award winning actress Mercedes Ruehl, whose memorable performances included "The Goat or Who Is Sylvia" and the upcoming 'The American Plan' introduced Mr. Albee who in turn applauded Mr. Connolly's achievement. In November 2007, the Yale Repertory Theatre staged a compelling reading of the play, sensitively directed by Liz Diamond, to an enthusiastic audience.

"The Boys From Siam," a poetic and probing work, is loosely based on the story of Chang and Eng Bunker (the original "Siamese twins").

Foreword By Edward Albee
"The Boys from Siam," by John Connolly, is in its final version, a beautifully realized concentrated universe. It takes big chances along the way, unhesitatingly assuming it knows what it’s doing (which is almost always), and makes us care—really care. Put all this together and you have a winner.

"The Boys from Siam" was published by Yale University Press in October 2008.

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In 2008, Mr. Albee surprised us with a much different selection in "Grenadine" by Neil Wechsler. Mr. Wechsler graduated Yale University in 1996 with distinction in Philosophy and Psychology. He has been writing novels, novellas, and plays ever since. He lives in Buffalo with his wife, Anne, and their two infant children, Max and Sasha.

Grenadine follows a man's quest for love in the company of his three devoted friends. The bonds of friendship are challenged -- and ultimately reaffirmed -- by the quartet's journey through unfamiliar landscape.

The award ceremony was held the evening of September 14th at the Ritz Carlton Rise Bar, Battery Park, New York City. Mr. Bill Irwin, the multi-talented Tony award winning actor, who received his Tony for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" introduced Mr. Albee.

The Yale Repertory Theatre staged a brilliant reading of the play, directed by Evan Yionoulis on September 15th to a sold out audience.

 

Edward Albee, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and judge of the Yale Drama Series, says of 'Grenadine', "I found it highly original; it kept me fully awake; I learned quite a bit; both the questions the play asks and the answers it proposes are provocative; the play stretches my mind. If I have one reservation, it is that my favorite character, Pyx, vanishes (through apparent drowning) early in the second act and reappears only quite near the end of the play, diminished in wonderfulness (perhaps drowning, apparent or otherwise, does this) but able to recover in time to say the play's lovely last line."

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Yale University Press will publish "Grenadine" in the Autumn 2009.

Renowned British playwright David Hare follows Mr. Albee in his stewardship of The Yale Drama Series. He serves as judge of the annual competition for two years, assuming duties in 2009.

Submissions for the 2010 Competition must be postmarked no earlier than July 15, 2009 and no later than August 15, 2009.
See Competition Rules for precise information regarding your entry.