For 2008, The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation teams up with the Under the Radar Festival and Performance Space 122 to present the winner in January 2008

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation announces the winner of The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award

For 2008, The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation teams up with the Under the Radar Festival and Performance Space 122 to present the winner in January 2008

New York, New York August 24, 2007—The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation is proud to announce the winner of this year’s The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the highest honor at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The winner of The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award was announced at the closing ceremonies of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 10 AM GMT (5 AM EST).

During the Awards Ceremony, The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation also announced a strategic partnership with the critically acclaimed Under the Radar Festival, produced by Mark Russell and The Public Theatre, to supplement their on-going partnership with Performance Space 122, under the artistic direction of Vallejo Gantner.

This year, The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award goes to Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, created by the new British theatre company 1927. This production will receive its NYC premiere during the Under the Radar Festival at Performance Space 122 from January 9 – January 20, 2008.

1927’s theatrical cabaret, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” combines award winning animation and film with sophisticated storytelling, live music and performance. This sell out London Show (developed at the renowned Battersea Arts Center) takes you to the wild woods and the shipwrecked seas, from the weird underbelly of the suburbs to the tweedy world of the old rich, from dreamscapes into walking nightmares …

Presented as a collection of vignettes, this surreal satire for the discerning viewer had already gained cult status in London, which followed them on to the Edinburgh Fringe with sold out performances and wonderful reviews.

Though the company, 1927, was only formed early this year and have had only a few months to develop the show, it took Edinburgh by storm, winning a Fringe First Award (from the Scotsman), the Harold Angel Award, the Total Theatre Award for Best Emerging Company, and now the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award. This is a clean sweep of every one of the top awards at the Edinburgh Fringe and is an amazing accomplishment.

“It is quite extraordinary to enter a theatre and the feeling of happiness is evident. It began with a few lines of music and continued throughout with wonderful droll performances and beautiful synchronized animation, said Carol Tambor. “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a perfect intelligent antidote to the difficult times of today’s world. Utter creativity!”

During the run of The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe will hold a series of “How To” workshops and networking events aimed at encouraging more performing companies and promoters to come to Edinburgh in 2008 and beyond.

The committee that chooses the winning production is comprised of Carol Tambor and members of her Foundation, along with The Scotsman’s Arts Writers Joyce Macmillian, Jackie McGlone and Mark Fisher, and Mark Russell.

To be eligible for The Carol Tambor Award, the show must be an original work, never seen in New York City, and have received a 4-star or 5-star review from The Scotsman, Scotland’s foremost daily newspaper.

The Carol Tambor Award builds a bridge between New York City and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Created by Carol Tambor through her Theatrical Foundation in 2004, the inaugural award winners (Sister’s, Such Devoted Sisters and Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles) were given a four-day producer’s showcase in New York City. This showcase resulted in both shows being picked up for productions in the US and Canada.

In 2005, The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation and Performance Space 122 became presenting partners for The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, with the critically acclaimed NYC premiere of Andrew Dawson’s “unbearably beautiful” (NY Times) Absence and Presence. The 2006 winner, Michael Redhill’s Goodness, received wide critical acclaim and was called “gripping and important” by the New York Times.

The alliance between The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation, the Under the Radar Festival and Performance Space 122 fully realizes the original intention and spirit of the Foundation and the award. The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation, the Under the Radar Festival and Performance Space 122 are committed to providing an exceptional and increasingly rare opportunity for new international work that would not otherwise be able to travel to New York to do so.

“I am thrilled that the Carol Tambor Foundation has found an additional partner with the Under the Radar Festival,” said Carol Tambor. “I originally envisioned the award as a way to bring an excellent play to the attention of producers who would not be attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. By partnering with PS 122 two years ago, we could also access the audience directly. Now, with the Under the Radar Festival, we have the best of both worlds. We can reach the New York audience as well as the producers coming to APAP to ensure the continuation of the play at others venues after its US premiere in New York.”

Carol Tambor is a portrait artist by trade and a theatre aficionado. For over a decade, she has traveled to Edinburgh to enjoy the Festival offerings. Dismayed by so many fine plays not transferring to NYC, she decided to create an opportunity for New York audiences to get a taste of the Edinburgh theatre offerings.

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation was established to bring excellent dramatic work to the New York audience. The mission is to support artists in their desire to be seen and produced. The Foundation provides support with no future financial or commercial involvement in their success.

Under the Radar (UTR) is an annual theatre festival that spotlights international artists ranging from emerging talents to masters in the field. The festival is a wild mix of works by ensembles, solo artists, writers, and creators. The UTR Festival and Symposium is a project of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, produced by Mark Russell and The Public Theatre in New York City. The ultimate goal of UTR is to offer a crash course in theatre that is exciting, independent, and experimental, created by some of the most dynamic artists working today. In its three-year history, UTR has presented 35 productions from over 12 different countries.

Founded in 1979, Performance Space 122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, and performance. Committed to exploring innovative form as well as material, P.S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, has been ongoing since 1947. Fringe 2007 featured over 31,000 performances of 2,050 shows in 250 different venues throughout Edinburgh. The 2007 Festival sold more than 1.5 million tickets during its 3 weeks, the fourth consecutive year the Fringe sailed past the one million-ticket barrier. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has served as a launching pad for the careers of renowned stars such as Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Jude Law and Eddie Izzard as well as renowned playwrights like Tom Stoppard.

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