Two plays tie for 2010 Smith Prize

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Sean Christopher Lewis’ ‘Killadelphia: Mixtape of a City’ and Martín Zimmerman’s ‘White Tie Ball’ have won the 2010 Smith Prize, which honors new stage plays that focus on American politics.

‘Killadelphia: Mixtape of a City’ is a one-man play that tells the story of inmates in a Philadelphia jail. The playwright has performed his solo drama at Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre, Baltimore’s Centerstage and the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kan.

He has also performed ‘Killadelphia’ in prisons and juvenile detention centers in the Philadelphia area.

‘White Tie Ball’ follows two Latino brothers and the strains that their relationship endures following a violent crime. Zimmerman’s play has had workshop productions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Smith Prize was created in 2006 to recognize dramas that are socially and politically engaged. The award is administered by the National New Play Network and is funded by an initial gift from writer Timothy Jay Smith.

This year’s winners will share a $5,000 cash prize.

Past winners of the Smith Prize are ‘Topsy Turvy Mouse’ by Peter Gil-Sheridan, ‘Black Gold’ by Seth Rozin and ‘... and L.A. Is Burning’ by Y York.

— David Ng