Allan Baker Wins LGBT Theatre Award

Austin gay playwright Allan Baker was recently announced as a finalist for the 2014 Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Playwriting Competition for his full-length play, Eskandar.  Though not one of the winners, Allan's play was among the final 12 considered out of 254 submissions.  Inspired by Bizet's Carmen and the Shahnameh (or "Epic of Kings") of the 10th century Persian poet, Firdowsi, this play tells the story of the consequences of a clash of politics, economic interest, military strategy, cultural heritage and differing gender roles in today's Afghanistan.  Joe, a gay Afghan-American who has returned to Afghanistan as part of a covert military operation, meets Eskandar, the young, passionate and wild "kept boy" of an Afghan warlord.  They develop a relationship that leads to tragedy.

The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation holds yearly literary competitions that concern LGBT life and are inspired by an historical person, culture, event or work of art.  Based in New York City, the foundation also offers grants to production companies producing LGBT-themed theatrical works based on history.  For information about the foundation, you may visit their website at aabbfoundation.org.

This play was also a semi-finalist for the 2014 nuVoices for a nuGneration Play Festival of the Actors' Theatre of Charlotte, NC.