The 2024 National TYA/USA Award Recipients Revealed

 ​Theatre of Young Audiences/USA (​TYA/USA​)​, the national service organization connecting, cultivating, and advocating for the field of theatre for young audiences, will present the ​2024 National TYA/USA Awards​ in three categories: Deborah Wicks La Puma will receive the ​Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA​; ​ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence ​will receive the ​TYA Community Impact Award​; and ​Hiawatha Project will receive the ​TYA Artistic Innovation Award​.

The awards will be presented in a joint awards ceremony with the Childrens Theatre Foundation of America on March 15th, 2024 as part of the 2024 TYA/USA National Festival & Conference, the largest gathering of theatre for young audiences professionals in North America. Over 300 artists, educators and administrators will convene at this year’s event, held at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, to experience theatre from around the nation, exchange current practice, and discuss the future of the TYA industry. Registration is now open for the conference. More information can be found at www.tyausa.org/festival 

“We are thrilled to celebrate and honor innovative work in TYA with our TYA/USA awards,” says TYA/USA Executive Director, Sara Morgulis. “All three awardees have had tremendous impact on our membership, ranging from a sustained local impact to a broad national reach. We are grateful for their leadership, their innovation, and their commitment to deepening the practice of our field.”

The ​National TYA/USA Awards​ honor excellence in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences. Selected by a committee of peers from nominations made by TYA/USA members, awards are given annually in the following categories:

Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA​: Deborah Wicks La Puma 

The Harold Oaks Award for Sustained Excellence in TYA honors the achievements of individual leaders and companies that have made a significant and lasting impact on the field of TYA.

A composer, music director and orchestrator, Deborah Wicks La Puma is one of the most produced Theatre for Young Audiences artists working today. Some of her most popular musicals include ELLA ENCHANTED (based on the book by Gail Carson Levine), OLIVERIO: A BRAZILIAN TWIST, and EINSTEIN IS A DUMMY with playwright Karen Zacarías, and the off-broadway hit SHE PERSISTED (based on the book by Chelsea Clinton) with playwright Adam Tobin. 

TYA Community Impact Award: ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence 

The ​TYA Community Impact Award,​ honors ​an individual or company that has demonstrated community impact through a project or initiative related to TYA. Awardees utilize the power of TYA to significantly enrich a surrounding community in creative and meaningful ways.

ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence calls on teens to confront gun violence by creating new works of theatre that will spark critical conversations and inspire meaningful action in communities across the country. ENOUGH!’s mission is to promote playwriting as a tool for self-expression and social change, harnessing this generation's spirit of activism and providing a platform for America's playwrights of tomorrow to discover and develop their voices today. More than 140 organizations have participated in ENOUGH!’s three previous Nationwide Readings (2020, 2022, and 2023) to bring these plays to their community, involving nearly 3,000 artists and reaching more than 14,000 people. 

TYA Artistic Innovation Award:​ Hiawatha Project

The ​TYA Artistic Innovation Award​ honors ​an individual or company that has demonstrated innovation – experimentation in content or in form – in recent artistic work in TYA.

Hiawatha Project’s mission is to create original performances exploring specific social questions through myth, free association, and movement. Hiawatha's immersive tactile plays "Buoyant Sea" and "My Traveling Song"  were created as symbiotic experiences for young children ages 1-5 and their grown-ups with song, story, participatory play and elevated design, and were co-presented with The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in sold-out world premieres.

For more information, visit ​http://www.tyausa.org/fellowships-and-awards/national-tya-awards/