A prominent artist in the province has received a major theatre award.
Writer, director, actor, and dramaturge Santiago Guzmán has been given by the Playwright’s Guild of Canada the John Palmer Award, which honours a new-generation artist as a change-maker in theatre.
The national recognition carries with it a $5,000 prize to support future creative work.
I am humbled by this recognition and proud to put NL and Mexico's names high across this country we call Canada. Thank you to the jurors, Franco Boni, Chris Gatchalian, and Yvette Nolan for the recognition. I am honoured to carry John Palmer's legacy with this award. pic.twitter.com/UkNRrYxcXo
— Santiago Guzmán (@santiguzjan) October 31, 2022
Guzmán says there’s work to be done in raising voices previously ignored in the industry.
He says his work focuses on building a community for stories previously forgotten and seeking representation in all areas of the arts.
“Who would have thought that would be considered disrupting the status quo?”
Meanwhile, Guzmán’s latest work is hitting the stage at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s this week, with a developmental workshop of a new verbatim theatre show about immigration, written in collaboration with Vanessa Cardoso-Whelan and Nabila Qureshi.
The show, co-produced by TODOS Productions and White Rooster Theatre, is showing November 3-6 at 7:30 p.m.
TODOS Productions and @WhiteRoosterNL are thrilled to present a public reading (August 15) and a workshop production (November 3-6) of "NewfoundLanded", a verbatim theatre play by Vanessa Cardoso Whelan, @santiguzjan & Nabila Qureshi, directed by Azal Dosanjh. pic.twitter.com/x6aAOE52Mf
— TODOS Productions NL (@todosforall) August 5, 2022
