Cary Simowitz's play, Djarum Vanilla, has been selected for development at the Kennedy Center as part of the MFA Playwrights' Workshop, a collaborative award between The Kennedy Center and NNPN (National New Play Network).
While at Washington University, Cary Simowitz was a two time (and almost three time) Hotchner Festival Participant.
Hotchner Festival 2014, Ekphasia, or "The Shadow Girl"
Hotchner Festival 2015, The Divine Buoyancy of Being
In 2016 - Djarum Vanilla (titled Ersatz Vanilla at the time) was selected for the 2016 Hotchner Festival, but Cary opted out of the festival due to MFA commitments at the University of California. Cary was the 2016 recipient of the Leota Diesel Ashton Prize for his work as a playwright at Washington University.
According to Simowitz, "My journey is just beginning, but I am sincerely indebted to the Washington University Performing Arts Department community for their training and support!"
Cary is currently in his second year at UCLA, working on his MFA in Playwriting.
About Djarum Vanilla: Equal parts love song to and searing indictment of St. Louis in the wake of the 2014 Darren Wilson Verdict, Djarum Vanilla tells the story of an unlikely friendship fostered between an indigent white teenage girl and an African American man after the pair discover a secret hidden beneath the front seat of an abandoned Maserati-- a bond that is ultimately tested against the backdrop of a changing, unjust America.
