Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

A coup for Bay Area theatre: Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, the 32-year-old playwright behind the very brilliant dark comedy Hunter Gatherers, produced by Killing My Lobster last year, won the first ever $25,000 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award over the weekend.

The presentation took place on Saturday March 31 at Actors Theatre of Louisville during the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Nachtrieb's play beat dramas by Michael Hollinger and Jeff Daniels (who both received citations and $7,500 each.)

The award makes me very happy. It's not only a great achievement for Nachtrieb (who also won a local prize for best new play of the year, the Glickman Award, a few weeks ago,) but it's also a great achievement for Bay Area theatre as a whole. This part of the country is an exciting place for new plays. I could mention at least a couple of others from last year equally deserving of this kind of recognition. I expect more great things from local dramatists in '07.