Pulitzer winner playwright Ayad Akhtar’s Broadway drama Junk has been announced as the 2018 winner of the Kennedy Prize for Drama.
Inspired by the Wall Street boom of the 1980s, the Pakistani-American playwright’s theatre drama explores American history and its link with the underworld.
The play was shown on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Centre and closed last month. It explored the narrative through 19 characters and examine several undertones of the American society.
“It speaks directly to the aims of the prize, enlisting theatre’s power to explore America’s past, and through that, speak to our present, so crucial to the health of our democracy,†the Kennedy award jury commented on the selection of the Pakistani playwright’s drama.
Ayad has also been conferred the $100,000 award prize. The novelist is currently a resident at the American Academy in Rome.
Previous Kennedy Award includes award-winning playwrights like Taylor Mac and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
