(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Winners of the McKnight Theater Artist Award announced
James A. Williams, who appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's "Radio Golf," is among a trio of winners of the $25,000 prize.
June 11, 2015 at 5:31PM
Twin Cities actor James A. Williams, who appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's "Radio Golf," has won a McKnight Theater Artist Award, the Playwrights' Center, which administers the prize, has announced.
A founding member of Penumbra Theatre and the Star Tribune's Artist of the Year in 2008, Williams is one of three winners of the McKnight, which is part of a constellation of awards and prizes that help to make the Twin Cities such a magnet for artists.
The other McKnight winners are lighting designer Barry Browning, who was resident lighting designer at the Jungle Theater for 17 years, and rangy performer Aimee K. Bryant, a core artist with Ten Thousand Things theater company who sings, dances and does Shakespeare.
Coincidentally, both Williams, whose recent notable performances include turns in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Brother/Sister plays that were presented at the Guthrie Theater, and Bryant, who was deeply affecting in "The Color Purple" at Park Square last season, are currently appearing in Marcus Gardley's "The Gospel of Lovingkindness" at Pillsbury House Theatre.
That play is about the effect of violence on the families of both the victim and the victimizers. Williams's roles include a father and an old gangster. Bryant's parts include the mother of a killer.
The McKnight comes with a $25,000 prize and $7,000 in development funds that the artists use to create new work.
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