Beckwith Theater and the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival announced the winner of the inaugural Emerging Playwright Award, “Nantucket Sleighride,” on Thursday. The winner edged out the two other entries to win the $1,250 grand prize.

Graham Techler

It’s not a bad accomplishment for author and University of Michigan sophomore Graham Techler, who has never written a full-length play before.

“I’m very honored and surprised by the win,” Techler said.

Techler’s play narrowly  beat the other two works in the competition, “Ambrotypes,” written by Notre Dame senior Kaitlyn Farrell and “From Such Great Heights,” written by University of Michigan senior Tyler Dean.

The three plays were read on stage at the theater last weekend, with audiences giving feedback about which script they felt was the strongest, said Rich Frantz with Beckwith.

Frantz was part of the selection committee that narrowed down the submissions the theater received for the award down to the final three. In addition to the judge’s picks, audience reactions also played a role in determining the winner.

The actors who read Techler’s script only had two rehearsal readings before they went took the stage last Friday, Frantz said.

“It was more like one and half rehearsals, because during the first one we were laughing so much that it was hard to stay on track,” Frantz said.

Techler, who was present during the reading, was pleased by the reaction his script drew from both audiences and performers, he said.

“To have a play that people enjoy watching is nice, but to write a play that actors enjoying doing is even better,” Techler said. “That was one of my goals in writing it.”

“Nantucket Sleighride” is a comedy set in Cape Cod. A senile bed and breakfast owner hires a group of hitmen to protect his establishment from vandals. The actors who read the script were Paul Pugh, Jeff Gunn, Max Sala, George Tabbert, Jeremy Truitt, Dennis Tushla and Annie Schueneman.

For the author, seeing his work read by actors was an enlightening and enjoyable experience, he said.

“It was the first time I heard it aloud in a long time,” he said. “There were a lot of ideas that the actors brought to the table that I never thought of.”

Frantz said that he and the actors are interested in producing “Nantucket Sleighride” sometime in the future at Beckwith, should Techler continue to pursue a career in playwriting.

“If he wrote a play this good at 19, the imagination runs wild as to what he can accomplish when he gets older,” Frantz said.

“Nantucket Sleighride” will receive another stage reading at Beckwith during next month’s Dogwood Fine Arts Festival at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12.