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Kristina Wong Selected to Receive Renamed 2019 Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award

LOS ANGELES THEATRE ARTISTS AWARD RENAMED TO HONOR DOROTHY AND RICHARD E. SHERWOOD

Kristina Wong Selected to Receive the 2019 Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award Center Theatre Group’s $10,000 Award Supporting Boundary-Pushing Artists

Since 1996, Center Theatre Group has recognized and celebrated local theatre artists with the Richard E. Sherwood Award. In 2018 Dorothy Sherwood, Richard’s wife and fellow champion of innovative and adventurous theatre artists passed away. To honor the passion and dedication of both patrons of the arts, the award has been renamed the Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award.

The recipient of the 2019 Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award announced at the 2019 Ovation Awards is Kristina Wong. The $10,000 award aims to cultivate theatre artists who are working in Los Angeles at a catalytic moment in their career -- artists that push the formal and aesthetic boundaries and demonstrate a dedication to improve their respective artistic fields. The two additional finalists, Bruce Lemon and Marike Splint, will receive a $2,000 honorarium.

“My mother was an avid supporter of the arts in Los Angeles. She was particularly devoted to the Center Theatre Group, where she and my father enjoyed the best of contemporary theatre for decades,” said Ben Sherwood. “She was deeply interested in young theatre artists and championed innovative and adventurous new work, which is why she first established an award in her husband Richard’s name to encourage and support emerging theatre artists with exceptional talent. My sister Elizabeth and I hope to honor this legacy with the Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award that will now carry both of their names.”

Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie added, “This gift is somewhat unique in Los Angeles in that it gives artists funds to do whatever they want or need; it supports their vision, without parameters or restrictions, at a crucial point in their careers. We are grateful to the Sherwood family for their generosity, which will allow us to continue to make an impact on Los Angeles theatre in the memory of two people who devoted so much of their lives to our community. Los Angeles has lost an important supporter of the arts, but in renaming the Sherwood Award to honor Dorothy as well as Richard, we’re ensuring that their contributions are not forgotten.”

Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood were patrons of the arts with a special appreciation for artists who are in the vanguard of theatre. Richard was president and then chairman of the Center Theatre Group Board of Directors from 1980 until his passing in 1993. The award is established as an endowed fund at Center Theatre Group by their family, friends, colleagues and fellow board members, to honor the family’s passionate commitment to theatre. Dorothy Sherwood was deeply involved in the curation and selection process, hosting salons at her home for many of the artists, traveling to theatres around Los Angeles to support new work, and ensuring that the award would truly help recipients.

Kristina Wong is a performance artist, comedian and writer who has been presented internationally across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. Most recently, her solo theatre show “The Wong Street Journal” was presented by the US Consulate in Lagos, Nigeria. Her commentaries have appeared on American Public Media’s Marketplace, PBS, VICE, Jezebel, Playgirl Magazine, Huffington Post and CNN. She’s been awarded artist residencies from the MacDowell Colony, New York Theatre Workshop and Ojai Playwrights Festival. Her work has been awarded with grants from Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, Center for Cultural Innovation, National Performance Network and a COLA Master Artist Fellowship from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Her newest performance project is “Kristina Wong for Public Office”– a simultaneous real-life campaign for public office and performance art piece. She is the artist-in-residence at the San Diego Airport where she is exploring the site as a literal purgatory in a border town. She is also currently the artist-in-residence at the Dream Resource Center working with undocumented immigrants and their allies on an original theatre piece.

Past recipients of the award include video and scenic designer Hana S. Kim, lighting designer Pablo Santiago, Miwa Matreyek of Cloud Eye Control, Sean Cawelti of Rogue Artists Ensemble, Miranda Wright of Los Angeles Performance Practice, Lars Jan of Early Morning Opera, lighting designer Christopher Kuhl and costume designer Ann Closs-Farley, among others.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under Artistic Director Michael Ritchie, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2100-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

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January 29, 2019