Kristiana col

Ó

n wins
playwriting award

Chicago-based playwright Kristiana Colón has won Arizona Theatre Company’s 2014 National Latino Playwriting Award for her play “Octagon.”

The competition, now in its 18th year, draws budding Latino playwrights from around the United States, its territories and Mexico.

Colón’s play is about eight young poets vying for the top prize in a poetry slam. They all want to win, and they will do what they have to and damn the consequences.

“The judges savored the rich linguistic tapestry of Kristiana Colón’s exciting new play,” Elaine Romero said in a release. Romero is ATC’s playwright-in-residence and one of the judges in the competition.

“Theater and poetry slam together is the theatrical equivalent of spontaneous combustion in this new play that looks at the personal and the political and how tough it can be to parse the two.”

Colón pockets a $1,000 award for her winning entry.

The playwright is also a published poet and an ensemble member of Teatro Luna, a Chicago theater company dedicated to the works of and about Latina women. Colón also appeared on Season 5 of HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam.”

Runner-up for the award was Marrio Correa. His play, “Commander,” is about a man’s quest to become the first openly gay president.

Previous winners of the Latino Playwriting Award have seen their works go on to have festival and regional theater productions. Among them is Kristoffer Diaz, whose award-winning play, “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” went on to become a finalist for a 2010 Pulitzer Prize.

ATC is now accepting submissions for its 2015 competition. The deadline for entries is Dec. 31. For guidelines, go to arizonatheatre.org  and click on the artistic department under “Inside ATC.”

Boys’, men’s choral fest to culminate with concerts

The Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus has spent most of this week in Flagstaff with vocalists from around the world.

The chorus is participating in the International Boys’ and Men’s Choral Festival, with conductors Julian Ackerley — the Boys Chorus’ longtime director — and Hirvo Surva, who leads the Estonian National Opera Boys’ Choir and the Ravalia Male Chamber Choir in his native Estonia.

The eight-day event kicked off Monday and runs through next Monday, with most events held in Flagstaff. But on Sunday, the Boys Chorus will partner with the festival participants for a concert at the University of Arizona’s Crowder Hall — one of two public performances presented by the festival.

Sunday’s concert begins at 3 p.m. at Crowder, North Park Avenue and East Speedway at the UA School of Music. Tickets are $15, $10 for students and $8 for children 12 and younger by calling 296-6277 or online at internationalchoralfestival.com

Festival participants also will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Northern Arizona University’s Ardrey Memorial Auditorium. Tickets are $8.75 adults, $4.75 children at the door or online.