Fil-Am wins coveted US lit prize

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino-American writer and editor in New York has won a major literary prize in the United States. Randy Gener, senior editor of American Theatre magazine, has won the 50th annual George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism – one of the most distinguished awards in the American theatre. The award, which aims “to encourage and assist in developing the art of drama criticism and the stimulation of intelligent playgoing," is awarded annually by a majority vote of the current heads of the English departments of Ivy League universities Cornell, Princeton, and Yale. The Nathan Awards Committee was said to be particularly impressed by Gener’s writings in the American Theatre magazine. “He has used that venue [America Theatre Magazine] and others to draw our attention to largely ignored voices and visions on the international theatrical scene, to the work of Filipino-American playwright Jessica Hagedorn, to a small but lively Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, and to the future of theatrical criticism itself in essays that wed critical intelligence with a beat reporter’s love of the telling and unruly fact. “In one piece, Gener argues that, at its best, criticism is ‘a cultural asset, one of the bases on which democracy and community are built.’ He fulfills that lofty goal by implicitly reminding us of how much that is excellent in theater here and abroad is ignored by a critical fraternity which, during this age of globalization, seems more parochial than ever," read the Committee’s citation for Gener. He is reportedly the first Asian-American to become a recipient of the honor. Gener was presented with a symbolic trophy for the award and a cash prize of $10,000 last March 9 at the Kalayaan Hall (Freedom Hall) of the Philippine Consulate Center, 556 Fifth Avenue in New York City (near 45th Street). The prize for the Nathan Award fro Dramatic Criticism consists of the annual net income of half of the late drama critic George Jean Nathan’s estate, which is “paid to the American who has written the best piece of drama criticism during the theatrical year (July 1 to June 30), whether it is an article, an essay, treatise or book." For additional information regarding the award, you may visit its website. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV