This year, two winners share the honor, with one enroute to New York for a January bow

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Press contact: Karen Greco

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

This year, two winners share the honor, with one enroute to New York for a January bow

New York, New York August 24, 2012—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 at 10:45 AM BST (5:45 AM EST).

This year is unique as The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award goes to two productions. The winner of the 2012 Best of Edinburgh Award goes to MIES JULIE, adapted from Strindberg’s Miss Julie and directed by Yael Farber. The production is from the Baxter Theatre Center and South African State Theatre and was performed in Edinburgh at the Assembly Hall.

MIES JULIE is a searing adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, reimagined in post-apartheid South Africa. Called “bloody, brutal and riven with a vicious ­passion” by The Scotsman, the production wowed audiences and critics alike at this year’s Festival.

Because of scheduling conflicts, MIES JULIE will not be able to come to New York for 2012. So the Foundation is excited to announce that they will bring David Greig’s MIDSUMMER to the Clurman Theatre for its US premiere from January 9 – February 3, 2013.

Carol Tambor explains, “Since MIES JULIE is clearly the ‘Best of Edinburgh 2012’ I am thrilled to give them the Best of Edinburgh honor. While I am heartbroken that they are unable to come to New York for a January run, I am excited to have an opportunity to finally bring MIDSUMMER by David Greig to New York. This is a play with music by Gordon McIntyre, which I wanted to bring to New York since I saw it in Edinburgh in 2009. They could not accept the award then because of their schedule. For three years, I could never get out of my mind. Now, I can finally award this play the prize it most definitely deserves, so we have two Best of Edinburgh winners!”

A collaboration between playwright David Greig and singer-songwriter Gordon McIntyre (from the Scottish band Ballboy), MIDSUMMER is the story of a great lost weekend of bridge-burning, car chases, wedding bust-ups, bondage miscalculations, midnight trysts and self-loathing hangovers.

The Guardian called MIDSUMMER “Exhilarating…you float out laughing as if you’ve just swallowed sunshine on a spoon.” The Scotsman called it “Warm-hearted, beautifully-sculpted musical romantic comedy.”

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 9th 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, performed in Rwanda in 2009 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 played at Spoleto USA 2012.

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.” Her latest, “Boys”, opened in May 2012 on London’s West End.

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. They returned to the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe for an encore performance. In September, they begin devising their new piece, based on Pinocchio.

In 2012, the Foundation presented the US premiere of the gravity defying “LEO,” by German company Circle of Eleven. “LEO” has since toured to, Montreal, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Iran and the Spoleto Festival in the US. It is currently enjoying a sold-out return engagement to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe before it tours the US mid-Western, Hong Kong, and another 3 months in Australia and New Zealand.

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 magic.

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. For more information, visit www.bestofedinburgh.org.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world, has been ongoing since 1947. The 2011 Festival sold more than 1.8 million tickets during its 3 weeks, the eighth 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. For more information, visit www.edfringe.com.

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