The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, the oldest and largest prize awarded to women+ playwrights - now in its 44th year. Chosen from a group of over 160 plays submitted from around the world, the 2022 Finalists are: Chiara Atik (US) "Poor Clare"; Daniella De Jesús (US) "Get Your Pink Hands Off Me Sucka and Give Me Back (FKA Columbus Play)"; Sarah Hanly (Ireland) "Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks" Zora Howard (US) "BUST"; Sonya Kelly (Ireland) "The Last Return"; Benedict Lombe (UK) "Lava"; Joanna Murray-Smith (AU) "Berlin"; Kae Tempest (UK) "Paradise"; Lauren Whitehead (US) "The Play Which Raises the Question of What Happened in/to Low Income Black Communities between 1974 and 2004 And Hints at Why Mass Incarceration is Perhaps a Man-Made Disease And Highlights the Government’s General Lack of Empathy for Poor People of Color And Dispels the Notion that Our Condition is Our Fault And Helps Make Visible Why We Riot When We Mourn And also Tells the Story of Anita Freeman & her Kids"; Amanda Wilkin (UK) "Shedding a Skin." The Winner, to be announced in April, will be awarded a cash prize of $25,000, and will receive a signed print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Each of the additional Finalists will receive an award of $5,000. The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is awarded annually to celebrate women+ who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre. Women+ includes women, transgender, and non-binary playwrights. Each year, artistic directors and prominent professionals in the theatre are invited to submit plays. Each script receives multiple readings by members of an international reading committee that selects the finalists. An international panel of six judges then selects the winning play. Judges for the 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize are: Adjoa Andoh, Luis Alfaro, Justin Audibert, Paule Constable, Saidah Arrika Ekulona & Whitney White. For more information about the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, visit www.blackburnprize.org. Press contact: DKC/O&M (212/695-7400)...