Announcing Aliyah Curry as the 2024 Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award Recipient
Curry recognized with $8,000 cash grant open to New York State playwrights and screenwriters who identify as LGBTQ+.
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced Aliyah Curry as the 2024 recipient of its Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award, an $8,000 cash grant awarded to one (1) New York State-based playwright or screenwriter who identifies as LGBTQ+.
The annual award honors the life and work of playwright Ryan Hudak, who tragically passed away in May 2022 at age 32 after a long battle with Leukemia. In addition to his work as a playwright, Ryan was a theater maker, filmmaker, and a valued member of NYFA’s staff, serving on the executive and development teams.
Aliyah Curry is a queer Southern-bred writer and filmmaker who focuses on Black sexuality and mental health. After studying Dramatic Writing at Savannah College of Art and Design, she was accepted into Horizon Theatre Company’s New South Young Playwrights Contest and Festival, which contributed to her being a Dramatist Guild of America Young Playwright Award semi-finalist. She has since worked with Working Title Playwrights, Alliance Theatre, The Tank, and more.
The Angels Have Always Been Black, her debut chapbook, was published by Bottlecap Press in 2021. Additional poems and short stories can be found in Permission to Write, Cathexis Northwest Press, FIYAH Lit Mag, and other literary journals. When not writing, Curry directs, stage manages, dramaturgs, and collaborates with fellow artists. Her short films have received accolades at Savannah State Film Festival, Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest, and Georgia Film Festival.
Said Michael Royce, NYFA CEO: “NYFA is proud to help support Aliyah Curry’s creative journey through The Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award. She has an already impressive list of accomplishments, and we hope this award gives her the time and space to achieve new heights in her career. We thank Ryan’s parents Pat and Tom Hudak for funding this award in honor of Ryan, who, as an active member of the LGBTQ+ theater community, believed strongly in championing LGBTQ+ voices.”
Said Curry upon receiving the Ryan Hudak LGBTQ+ Dramatic Writing Award: “This grant is truly a testimony of my faith. I am beyond grateful to be able to use this award to focus more dedicated time on completing scripts and collaborations.”
Funding for this award is provided by Ryan’s parents, Pat and Tom Hudak; individual donors; and the philanthropic community. Those interested in contributing funds to this annual award may donate here.
About Ryan Hudak:
Ryan Hudak was a gay playwright, theater maker, and filmmaker, proud of his Hispanic and European heritage.
Ryan’s play The Firewatchers won him a scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he graduated with an MFA degree in dramatic writing. His play Robbie Alex Cooper was a 2018 finalist in the prestigious Eugene O’Neill playwriting competition. While an undergrad at Long Island University, he was involved in the development of and acted in the play Remembering Antigone, which was awarded a Kennedy Center honor for best reimagining of a classic play.
Ryan wrote to give the LGBTQ+ community more stories that connect them to world history and culture, which he felt has largely been sanitized by today’s culture. Ryan developed and taught a course on the History of gay theater when he attended CMU, which he eventually taught at Lehman College. He would have continued teaching the course at Long Island University except for the fate of his illness.
Ryan’s work came out of his struggles with his sexuality as a young man. He found a connection through fantasy and period novels, tales of outsiders banding together to defeat a foe or families moving through generations. As a result, his plays tended to be set in their own created worlds, pulling influences from gay culture and literature, giving gay characters more complex stories.
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