Actor’s Express concludes its 35th anniversary season with the winner of the 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, cullud wattah, a play about strength and survival in a family of women. It is 2016; it has been 936 days since Flint, Michigan has had clean water. See photos from the production.
The 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has been awarded to U.S. playwright Erika Dickerson-Despenza for her play about the Flint, Michigan water crisis, cullad wattah. Awarded annually since 1977, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the largest and oldest international prize honoring Women+ playwrights. On April 7, a livestream of the award ceremony honored Dickerson-Despenza and the other 9 Finalists. Award-winning star of stage and screen, and one of this year s Blackburn Prize Judges, Paapa Essiedu, announced the winning play, which comes with an award of $25,000 and a signed and numbered print by artist Willem De Kooning. What a play. Oh my God, what a play! When I say that this play hit me like a train. Like a ton of bricks. I don t think I slept for about three weeks after reading this play. It did something very significant to me. . Through its passionate exploration of the black female experience in America right now I feel like this play is going to be a classic of today and