2023 Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award

The League of Professional Theatre Women
is pleased to announce that

Petrona de la Cruz

has been chosen to receive the 2023 Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award

with the Award Ceremony scheduled for October 10, 2023 at 7pm

(New York, NY) The League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) is pleased to announce that Petrona de la Cruz of Chiapas, Mexico has been chosen to receive the 2023 Gilder/Coigney International Theatre Award (GCITA). The GCITA Program was established in 2011 in honor of Rosamond Gilder and Martha Coigney, two legendary theatre women who chartered a decades-long and enduring course of productive diplomatic relations through the Arts. The triennial award has previously been given to Odile Gakire Katese (Rwanda), Patricia Ariza (Colombia), Adelheid Roosen (The Netherlands) and  Hanane Hajj Ali (Lebanon).

GCITA Co-directors Linda Chapman and Joan D. Firestone announce that two-time GCITA Finalist Maya Zbib (Lebanon) will also receive Special Recognition this year.

Petrona de la Cruz was the first indigenous person to win Mexico's coveted Rosario Castellanos Prize for Literature in 1992 and then received the National Council for Culture and the Arts grant, the highest in Mexico, in 2002. In 1999, FOMMA (Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya), which she formed in 1994 to support Mayan women and children, received a national award given by IMIFAP (Mexican Institute of Research on the Family and Population) and sponsored by the Summit Foundation for its work in radio, theater, and education in Mexico. Cruz first practiced theater with the Sna Jtz'ibajom, a Mayan cultural cooperative in a social climate that discouraged women from speaking publicly of their experiences. There, she began to explore community theater as a medium for addressing problems such as domestic violence, rape, alcohol abuse, migration, and poverty as they affect the lives of women. Her debut play, Una mujer desesperada focuses on the seemingly endless violence visited on Mayan women, and the matter-of-fact impossibility of recourse. It was the first play written by an indigenous Highland Mayan woman about the real life social drama of family violence. Since then, her plays have been performed in several countries, and she continues to write as she searches for new ways to encourage economic and cultural development for indigenous women and children. In addition to writing and performing, Cruz currently serves as a Congresswoman for the State of Chiapas local Congress for the 2021-2024 term.

Without theatre we could not understand why we must continue dreaming despite the pain, sorrow, corruption and other beasts that are eating away at our civilization; we must bet on art to break these stigmas.  Petrona de la Cruz

The only Award of its kind, the GCITA honors the exceptional work of theatre women around the world who are making a difference in their communities and in the lives of women. It includes a cash prize and travel expenses to New York City for an Award Ceremony and a series of special events that celebrate the winner’s work and acknowledge all of the nominees.

The 2023 Award will be presented on October 10, 2023 at The Lovinger Theater, 250 Bedford Park Blvd, Bronx, NY.

Sponsored by the CUNY Institute for Mexican Studies.

Make a reservation here

Eighteen artists were nominated for the 2023 Award, with Petrona de la Cruz chosen from a group of four finalists which also included: Lydia Koniordou (Greece), Maria Tri Sulistyani (Indonesia) and Leila Toubel (Tunisia). 

The other nominees are: Romina Paula (Argentina), Sonya Armaghanyan (Armenia), Regina Miranda (Brazil), Morm Sokly (Cambodia), Hala Omran (France/Syria), Zana Hoxha (Kosovo), Tania El Khoury (Lebanon), Kiyo Gutierrez (Mexico), Hope Azeda (Rwanda), Cayetana Guillen Cuervo (Spain), Yael Farber (South Africa), Tereza Andersson (Sweden), and Bhanbhassa Dhubthien (Thailand).