International Hispanic Playwriting Contest Of Chicago 2020 Award Ceremony  

On the occasion of the International Theater Day celebration, Aguijón Theater and the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago will present the award to José Manuel Hidalgo, winner of the 2020 The International Hispanic Playwriting Contest of Chicago, follow by the online stage reading of his play El no lugar.

Staged reading: el no lugar (no place) by José Manuel Hidalgo  winner: Hispanic Playwriting Award of Chicago 2020 

The International Hispanic Playwriting Contest of Chicago was founded in 2014 by Aguijón Theater with the support and collaboration of the Instituto Cervantes of Chicago. The main goal of this international biennial competition is to increase the opportunities available to and promote the contemporary stage works of Hispanic authors. In this fourth edition, 271 plays were submitted by writers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela.  Mexican playwright José Manuel Hidalgo was awarded first prize of the 2020 International Hispanic Playwriting Contest of Chicago for his work El no lugar (No Place). 

A graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a degree in Dramatic Literature and Theater, José Manuel Hidalgo has won numerous awards including the 2016 Gerardo Mancebo National Prize for Young Playwriting and the 2017 Manuel Herrera National Prize for Playwriting. His works have been presented in venues such as the Centro Cultural del Bosque, the Mexico City Theater System, the Hellenic Cultural Center, UNAM Theater, among others. His work Under the sign of Thespis was a co-production between the International Festival of Contemporary Playwriting "Dramafest" and the National Theater Company with seasons in Mexico and Geneva.