The League of Professional Theatre Women presented The Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 16 February 2021 at 10 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 12 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 1 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).
The LPTW International Committee is pleased to announce that Hanane Hajj Ali of Lebanon has been chosen to receive the 2020 Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award.
Fluent in English, French and Arabic, Hanane Hajj Ali is a woman who defies conventions, stereotypes and expectations and is a singularly-capable ambassador to represent the breadth and depth of both the evolving identities and realities for Arab women and Arab world theatre. Throughout her 40-year career, she has written, performed and directed acclaimed Arabic-language productions and also facilitated and supported hundreds of colleagues, students and communities in Lebanon and throughout the entire Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Ali’s artistic career started as a founding member of Hakawati/Storytellers Theater in 1978, the Arab world’s pioneering experiment in socially engaged community led theater, where she was an actor and writer until 1992. In 1999, she co-founded Shams Association which bridges the sectarian divides of Lebanese society and brings together young artists from different backgrounds. Jogging, her most recent solo piece, is a “partly autobiographical and taboo-breaking performance that tackles the Bermuda triangle of Religion, Sex, and Politics” which she has toured throughout the MENA region and Europe, including the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival, where she received the Vertebrae Prize for Best Actor. In collaboration with the Sundance Institute she performed Jogging in 2019 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC., and in February 2020 she performed the piece at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. As a teacher and trainer, Ali has worked with hundreds of young people from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, and The UAE, and leads sessions on theatre practice, leadership, cultural management and cultural policy Committed to the welfare of the MENA region, Ali remains an activist, cooperating with numerous NGO’s and co-founding three of the Arab region’s most important cultural organizations: Al Mawred’s Culture Resource, Ettijahat and Action for Hope.
Click here to learn more about the other 26 nominees from 18 countries for the 2020 Gilder/Coigney Award.
The League of Professional Theatre Women’s (LPTW) Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award Program was established in 2011 in honor of Rosamond Gilder and Martha Coigney, two legendary practitioners and diplomats whose work on the international stage proved that theatre knows no boundaries. Presented every three years, this award acknowledges the exceptional work of a non-U.S. theatre woman, promotes expanded visibility and new opportunities for the Awardee and her sister nominees, and fosters connections and networking with LPTW members and local cultural institutions. Odile Gakire Katese (2011, Rwanda), Patricia Ariza (2014, Colombia), and Adelheid Roosen (2017, The Netherlands) were our first three winners.
The GCITA Program also presents a week-long series of events designed to facilitate the Program’s goals, which air on LPTW’s YouTube Channel.
Click here for the full calendar of events for the 2020 Gilder/Coigney Award Program.
This award program partners with Martin E. Segal Theatre Center/CUNY, Lebanese American University, Italian Cultural Institute, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo at NYU, and New York University/Brademas Center and is sponsored by Showtime.
"At a time when international diplomacy is challenged, we are proud of the role that artists play as cultural diplomats and the creative, educational, non-political dialogue that is engendered through programs such as The International Award, produced by The League of Professional Theatre Women." Joan D. Firestone, Chair, 2020 G/C International Theatre Award Program
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