New York, NY – Sarah Mantell has been announced as the recipient of the 2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for their play In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot. The award, presented at Playwrights Horizons in New York, NY, has been given annually since 1978 and recognizes women+ (including trans and non-binary people) playwrights in the English-speaking theatre.

“When I wrote this play, my wildest dream was that it would become something my generation of actors could age towards,” said Mantell in a statement. “There are so few roles for women, trans, and nonbinary actors in the second half of their careers when many of them are just hitting the peak of their ability. Of all the gifts that the Susan Smith Blackburn has given me, perhaps the biggest one is that it suddenly seems like that wild dream is possible.”

Finalists for the 2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize were Anupama Chandrasekhar’s The Father and the Assassin, Maryam Hamidi's Moonset, Karen Hartman’s New Golden Age, Katie Holly’s Her Hand on the Trellis, Kimber Lee’s saturday, a.k. payne’s Amani, Francisca Da Silveira’s Pay No Worship, Zadie Smith’s The Wife of Willesden, and Ruby Thomas’s Linck & Mülhahn.