Alleyway Theatre Names Kevin Cirone’s HIS GIRL WATSON As Recipient Of 2024/25 Mazumdar New Play Award

Alleyway Theatre Names Kevin Cirone’s HIS GIRL WATSON As Recipient Of 2024/25 Mazumdar New Play Award
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Alleyway Theatre has announced that HIS GIRL WATSON: A SHERLOCK NOIR by Kevin Cirone is the recipient of the 2024/25 Maxim Mazumdar New Play Award. The award includes a cash prize and a fully staged production, which will receive its world premiere on the Alleyway mainstage in June 2026.

Artistic Director Chris J. Handley said the Mazumdar Award continues Alleyway’s long-standing commitment to developing new work for the American stage. Established in 1989 in memory of Canadian actor and playwright Maxim Mazumdar, the award honors original, full-length plays that demonstrate theatrical ambition and contemporary relevance.

The 2024/25 competition received 839 submissions following the elimination of the entry fee in 2020. A volunteer panel of 75 theatre artists from Western New York and across the U.S. reviewed the submissions over an 18-month process. After two rounds of evaluation, 45 scripts were advanced to the artistic team, from which five semifinalists, three finalists, and the winning play were selected.

HIS GIRL WATSON: A SHERLOCK NOIR is set in post–World War II Boston and follows Dr. Josie Watson, who becomes entangled in a criminal conspiracy involving murder, organized crime, and the shadow of Sherlock Holmes. The play reframes the Holmes mythology through a noir lens, centering Watson as she confronts personal trauma alongside an international plot.

Creative team members and casting for the production will be announced at a later date.

Recent recipients of the Mazumdar New Play Award include BLACK BEAR ISLAND by Karissa Murrel Myers, THE NATURAL HORSE by T. Adamson, THE ALEPH COMPLEX by Deborah Yarchun, and BERSERKER by Bruce Walsh. No award was presented in 2021 due to the COVID-19 shutdown.

Kevin Cirone is a Kennedy Center Playwriting alumnus and former actor whose previous works have been produced by Moonbox Theater Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Umbrella Stage Company, and at the Boston Theater Marathon, among others.

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Mazumdar Award Finalists

   Winner: HIS GIRL WATSON: A SHERLOCK NOIR by Kevin Cirone

Finalists:

   THERE ARE BLACK ROSES UNDER THE SUN by Cris Blak

   COMPOST by Matt Hoverman

   ENORMITY, GIRL, AND THE EARTHQUAKE IN HER LUNGS by Chelsea Wooley

Semifinalists:

   THE HAUNTING OF HOOVERTON HOTEL by Jacob Albarella and Jason Kaiser

   LUMIN by Emma Gibson

   THE APPLIANCE DEPARTMENT by Bella Poynton

   WALKING WHILE BLACK by Philip Christian Smith

   WE ARE THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS by Christian St. Croix

About the 2026 Mazumdar Award

Submissions for the next Mazumdar New Play Award will be accepted March 1–15, 2026, for unproduced, full-length plays. The winning script will receive a cash prize and a production in a future Alleyway Theatre season.