Join us in congratulating Dominic Colón for being the recipient of the inaugural WIO! Prize! The WIO! Prize honors and holds space for writers living with HIV and working in the American Theater. Watch below to see a special congratulatory message from Javier Muñoz and a conversation with Dominic and WIO founder Donja R. Love:
“Dominic Colón writes with such heart and imagination that his characters leap off the page. I laughed, gasped, and found myself in conversation with them over the choices they made. They were so alive that I felt I knew them. His stories intimately hold space for people we seldom see on stage. With his work, Colón addresses HIV/AIDS in a way that forces the conversation forward. What an honor to have him as the inaugural WIO! Prize recipient,” said Donja R. Love, creator of the prize, which is part of his Write It Out! program for writers living with HIV.
As the recipient of the WIO! Prize, Colón receives a cash award of $5,000, funded by the Tony and Emmy-winning actor Billy Porter (Kinky Boots, Pose). He also receives additional support from GLAAD to hire a dramaturg in order to develop a new work in the coming year.
“You don't always control what the blessing in your life will look like, but you do control what you do with it! HIV is that blessing! Writing and developing THE WAR I KNOW has not only been one of the greatest joys of my life, but it has also been a major part of my own healing and liberation. Healing and liberation are my prayer for everyone. That is why I write! That is what theater at its best can do. That is what WE at our best can do!” Colón said. “I'm so honored to be the inaugural recipient of the WIO! prize. With the support of WIO!, I can continue to develop THE WAR I KNOW trilogy so that it can inspire healing and liberation to those who need it! And we ALL M*THERF*CKIN need it!”
To support Write It Out, make a donation at https://www.letswriteitout.com/.
Write It Out! was founded by Donja R. Love through a collaboration with National Queer Theater, The Each-Other Project, MOBI, Pride Plays, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.