Winning Plays for EMOS 2022

We are thrilled and proud to announce the winners of the 2021-22 EMOS Ecodrama Playwrights Festival!

Join us in Atlanta in November for EMOS 2022, hosted by Emory University and Theatre Emory to celebrate these two remarkable works!  (stay tuned for details!)

EMOS 2022 First Place:

"Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying," by  Jessica Huang

Jessica writes, “’Transmission in Advance of the Second Great Dying’ tells an epic tale of grief and global warming through the intersecting lives of Earth’s human and non-human inhabitants in 2045. Katrina and her unborn baby head north in search of snow; Hugo seeks purpose in a world without resources; and after a series of unnatural events, recently widowed Carla is swept into a cosmic relationship with an ageless being that challenges her understanding of time and extinction. Together with a young lynx and a swarm of locusts, their journeys become transmissions of hope and loss against the backdrop of planetary collapse.”

EMOS 2022 Second Place: “An American Animal,” by Kathrine Gwynn

Katherine writes, “’An American Animal’ is a play about loneliness, survival, fear, and connection in America.  Chloe is a black girl who wants to be a wolf biologist when she grows up. Willa is a trans girl who’s trying to learn guitar to pass the time in Wyoming. Paz is a forest ranger, a woman who’s been watching the wolves for decades. The Hunter is a white man who wants to kill a wolf. And Jack is a jackalope who tries not to get shot. All five of them spend a summer in and around Yellowstone, watching the wolves, waiting with bated breath until summer ends—and the wolf hunting season begins.”

Our congratulations to both Jessica and Kathrine, as well to all our finalists, including:

“Bloom Bloom Pow,” by Genevieve Simon

“On Loop,” Charly Evon Simpson

“Before the Thaw,” Dan Aibel

“Arbolito,” Raul Garza

Over the past year, 320 submissions were read and cross-read by teams of two to three readers leading to six finalists – all of which are terrific plays that we hope you will keep on your watch list going forward. These six finalists were read by our panel of distinguished national theatre artists (including Keith Barker, Director of Native Earth; Caridad Svich, playwright; Yvette Nolan, playwright; Georgina Escobar, playwright; Alison Carey, playwright & former Director American History Project, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Wendy Arons, professor of dramaturgy, Carnegie Mellon University), who read the plays not only for a compelling and innovative approach to climate and environmental justice topics, but for compelling stories, untold stories, and innovative use of theatrical form.

Thank you to all the dramatists who submitted their work this year! We were honored to read your work, and we applaud your dedication to creating theatre that enlivens, illuminates and heals. Finally, a big thanks and shout out to all who participated in reading submissions this past year! We could not do this without you, and we are ever grateful for the gift of your time, attention and expertise!