Distinguished Service Award to Alan Sharpe

Presented by GLAA Vice President for Administration Kevin Davis

GLAA 38th Anniversary Reception
Washington Plaza Hotel
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Greetings, Greetings, and Greetings. I'm Kevin Davis, Administrative Vice President.

Our next honoree is quite an accomplished DC citizen — Alan Sharpe.

Playwright and director Alan Sharpe has been a cultural activist as long as GLAA has been in existence. He is founding artistic director of African-American Collective Theater, or ACT, a theater and film production company whose main focus since 1971 has been showcasing contemporary black LGBT life and culture. His many incisive plays with that focus include HeartBeats, Family Business, BrotherHOODS, and Skin & Bone.

Alan is a member of Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s “Playground” writers’ workshop, as well as the “Kitchen” project at Round House Theatre. He was selected for last summer’s 2008 Playwrights’ Intensive at the Kennedy Center. He is past recipient of several theater fellowships and Larry Neal dramatic writing awards from the D.C. Commission on the Arts.

Shortly after learning he was HIV positive, Alan wrote the screenplay Party, which was produced in New York City by AIDSFilms, in conjunction with Gay Men of African Descent. He has directed many additional new plays, and has written scripts for several gay-themed films including, Check-Out Time, Moment of Truth, All in the Timing, and a digital dramatic series online, based upon his play, Chump ChangeS.

Over Memorial Day weekend next month, ACT will present its eleventh consecutive showcase reading of a new play, in observance of Black Pride.

We are blessed to have such a creative force in our midst — not only for his use of drama to explore the many stories of a community in transition, but for his relentless work to nurture the theatrical arts in our community.

It is my privilege to present GLAA’s Distinguished Service Award to Alan Sharpe.