The logic-defying adventure LEO receives a full NYC production at Theatre Row in January

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation announces the winner of The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the highest honor at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The logic-defying adventure LEO receives a full NYC production at Theatre Row in January

New York, New York August 26, 2011—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 26 at 11 AM BST (5:30 AM EST).

This year, The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award goes to LEO, directed by Daniel Briere and performed by Tobias Wegner. The production is from the acclaimed German company Circle of Eleven.

2012 also marks a new partnership between The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation and Theatre Row. The Clurman Theatre will be home to the winning production.

What happens if the laws of gravity suddenly change? LEO is an ingenious combination of stage design and video projections, creating an unexpected environment in which our hero is forced to adapt to this surprising situation. Follow LEO in a logic-defying adventure through the physical challenges of gravity change that not only reveal his dreams and desires but his lust for life.

Joyce McMillan gave LEO four stars in The Scotsman, calling it “eloquent and memorable… Tobias Wegner’s LEO achieves with terrific elegance, strength and artistry what we simply take for granted , so long as gravity anchors us to the earth.”

Carol Tambor calls LEO, “A unique piece– quite a standout among the 2,000 offerings at the Fringe and the 75 shows I’ve seen.”

“LEO is a man who needs to find a solution to his trapped life; he must overcome confusion, indeed actually defy gravity. Using a combination of theatre and video, to our delight and empathy– he succeeds,” Tambor explains. “While watching LEO, I felt like the complicit assistant in a sophisticated magic show. Long after the conclusion, the exhilaration remains. All the audience reacted by jumping with joy to a heartfelt standing ovation.”

To be eligible for The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh 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.

Carol Tambor and members of her Foundation, along with The Scotsman Newspaper’s Arts Writers Joyce McMillan, Jackie McGlone and Mark Fisher chose the winning production.

Now in its 8th year, The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award builds a bridge between New York City and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Created by Carol Tambor in 2004, the inaugural award winners were “Sister’s, Such Devoted Sisters” and “Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles”. This showcase resulted in both shows being picked up for productions in the US and Canada.

In 2005, The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation presented the critically acclaimed NYC premiere of Andrew Dawson’s “unbearably beautiful” (NY Times) “Absence and Presence”.

The 2006 winner, Michael Redhill’s “Goodness”, which deals with understanding and forgiveness, recently performed in Rwanda as part of the 15th anniversary commemoration of the genocide there.

2007’s winner “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” a surreal satire that used animation and live performance to tell 10 startling and funny tales, was the recipient of two Drama Desk nominations and toured around the world for two years. Their second work, “The Animals and The Children Took To the Streets,” has received wide acclaim in the UK and Australia, and is now playing at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011.

The 2008 winner “Eight” returned to the US after its NY premiere, to the Ringling Festival in Sarasota Florida—curated by Mikhail Baryshnikov. It recently completed runs in Washington, DC and again in London. Playwright Ella Hickson’s second play “Precious Little Talent” performed in the West End to much success, with the UK critics calling her “the voice of her generation.”

Guna Nua’s production of Elaine Murphy’s “Little Gem,” the 2009 winner, had a sold-out London run, and toured the UK, Ireland and Australia. It recently returned to Dublin where it played at the 1150 seat Olympia Theatre.

Pants on Fire’s spectacular retelling of Ovid’s “Metamorphosis” was the 2010 winner. In September, they begin off a month-long residency at the Battersea Arts Center to develop their second piece. They too are in Edinburgh with an encore performance.

Carol Tambor is a portrait artist by trade and a theatre aficionado. For over a decade prior to creating the award, she had traveled to Edinburgh to enjoy the Festival offerings. Dismayed that so many fine plays never transferred 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 by funding the New York run. The mission to support artists in their desire to be seen and produced is carried out with no financial or commercial involvement in their future success.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, has been ongoing since 1947. Fringe 2011 featured over 40,254 performances of 2,453 shows in 259 different venues throughout Edinburgh. The 2011 Festival sold more than 1.9 million tickets during its 3 weeks, the seventh 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 stars such as Craig Ferguson, Mike Myers, John Cleese, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Jude Law and Eddie Izzard as well as renowned playwrights like Tom Stoppard.