Randy Gener Conferred the Presidential Award

President Aquino bestows Gener the title of "Legacy of the Filipino Nation"

New York, NY – Theatre Communications Group is proud to announce that Randy Gener, New York playwright, artist and  senior editor of American Theatre magazine, received the Presidential Award from His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines, at the Malacañang Palace in Manila. The Philippine government conferred Gener with the title of “Pamana ng Pilipino (Legacy of the Filipino Nation).”
An award-winning playwright, writer, curator, critic and visual artist, Gener was one of six individuals conferred by the Philippine Government with the "Pamana ng Pilipino" citation. A total of 24 recipients from around the world received the biennial Presidential Award.  This year, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, the Awards Secretariat, received 110 nominations from 23 countries. The nominees underwent screenings of three different committees with representatives from government agencies, media, academe, religious and business sectors.
The President’s official citation for Gener states: "His Excellency President Benigno S. Aquino III — in conferring the Pamana ng Pilipino Presidential Award to Randy Gener — recognizes his excellence in the field of theater arts and creativity, and diligence in promoting Filipino-American cultural interests and accomplishments to mainstream audiences in Europe and the United States of America."   Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas also invited Gener to speak on the topic of “Solutions of Culture and Education: Keeping Second Generation Filipinos Overseas Rooted in Philippine Culture” at a two-day conference entitled “Vision 2020: Responding to the Challenges of Migration and Development.” 
Gener was the only 2010 Presidential Awardee invited to actively participate as a resource speaker in this government-organized conference.   The Presidential Award comes on the heels of Gener’s selection as the 2009 recipient of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, the highest accolade for dramatic criticism in the U.S.  In 2010, Gener earned the coveted Deadline Club Award from the New York Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists, which praised him for “shedding light into government censorship and repression of artists.”  Gener was named Journalist of the Year 2010 by the National American Journalists Association.  In January 2011, Gener was selected to participate as a playwright in the 2011 edition of the New York Foundation for the Arts Immigrant Artists Project.   The Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas recognize the achievements and significant contributions of Filipino individuals and organizations in the U.S. and abroad.  Signed into law by the late President Corazon C. Aquino in 1991, the biennial awards were also established to help celebrate the Month of Overseas Filipinos and International Migrants Day in December.   The “Pamana ng Pilipino” Presidential Award is given to “Filipinos, who, in exemplifying the talent and industry of the Filipino, have brought the country honor and recognition through excellence, dedication and distinction in the pursuit of their work and the advancement of their profession.  They have displayed social consciousness in terms of manifesting strong community spirit, or leading and actively participating in projects and activities for the common good.”    Gener joined 24 recipients of the biennial 2010 Presidential Awards from around the world.  The recipients consist of seven Filipino organizations, one foreign group, three foreigners and 13 Filipinos.  The awardees come from United States, Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Germany and Canada.  

From 2003 to 2008, there were 314 individuals and organizations from 42 countries and territories have received the Presidential Awards.

Information about the 2010 recipients for the 2010 Presidential Awards can be found in the commission’s website: http://www.cfo.gov.ph/.
Randy Gener, is a writer, editor, critic, playwright, and visual artist based in New York City. In his capacity as the senior editor of American Theatre magazine, Gener is responsible for writing news, features and criticism, as well as preparing, editing and curating special issues on all aspects of professional U.S. and world theatre.  A Village Voice theater critic in the 1990s, he has contributed essays, articles and reviews in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Star Ledger, Applause Magazine, Time Out New York.  He is the author of scholarly essays in the encyclopedia, which include Cambridge Guide to the American Theater; the Anthologies Theater and Humanism in a World of Violence, roMANIA After 2000, and The American Theatre Reader.  He has worked as an editor of the Arts-Institute/Theatre Institute of the Czech Republic’s newspaper Prague Quadrennial Today and as a freelance dramaturg for the Joseph Papp Public Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company and Denver Center Theatre Company.  He has been the recipient of a 1995-96 Jerome Foundation American Theatre/Affiliated Writers Program fellowship; a 2003 New York Times critic fellowship at Eugene O’Neill Theater Center; grants from the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association, Ford Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding; a Filipinas Magazine 2007 Arts and Culture Prize; a 2010 Deadline Club Award from the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; and Journalist of the Year 2010 from the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. Gener is the 2009 recipient of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, the highest accolade for dramatic criticism in the U.S. Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, exists to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre.  Founded in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide.  TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; grants approximately $2 million per year to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level and serves as the US Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community.  TCG is the nation’s largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist.  It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCHŽ, the essential source for a career in the arts.  In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre.