The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance has announced the winner of the 2018 Dr. Floyd Gaffney National Playwriting Competition, Stand and Wait by Eliana Pipes. Eliana will be awarded a $1000 prize, and her play will receive a staged reading on Saturday, May 12 at 10 AM, at the Wagner Theater in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District on UC San Diego’s campus. The Gaffney Prize, now in its twelfth year, awards $1000 to the winning author along with travel and lodging to participate in the play’s staged reading as part of the Wagner New Play Festival at UC San Diego. About the play: Sparked by Paula Deen’s perverse remarks of an Antebellum South themed wedding with “historically appropriate” staff, Stand and Wait follows a seasoned black actress Carla, and a naïve white actress Tracy, who make friends in an audition, only to be handed a script that caters to America’s worst racial instincts. The event transcends to a plantation outside of space and time as Carla encounters ghosts of slaves and the legacy that’s been haunting her. The staged reading will be directed by Robert Castro and will feature Janet Fiki (Carla), Mary Rose Branick (Tracy), Brandon O’Sullivan (Mel), Assata Hefner (Yvonne), Amara Granderson (Lisa), Xavier Clark (Damian). Eliana Pipes is a playwright, filmmaker and actor graduating from Columbia University with a B.A. in English and entering Boston University's MFA Playwriting Program. Recent work includes: Stiletto Envy (Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival, The Fire this Time Festival) Isadora del Sol (KCACTF John Cauble Award). elianapipes.com.