New York City-based performer Alex Tatarsky has been named the recipient of the 2024 Mark O'Donnell Prize.

Awarded annually by the Entertainment Community Fund, the Mark O’Donnell Prize is bestowed upon “America’s most anomalous, singular and curious emerging writers, composers, directors and designers.”

The award includes a cash prize, use of The Mark O’Donnell Theater at the Entertainment Community Fund Arts Center (located at The Schermerhorn in Brooklyn) for one week to develop a reading of a new work, and counseling from the Entertainment Community Fund on two of the major challenges faced by emerging artists: how to apply for affordable housing and obtain health insurance.

The Mark O’Donnell Prize is made possible by a gift from Steve O’Donnell in memory of his brother. Previous recipients have included Dustin H. Chinn (2023), Shayok Misha Chowdhury (2022), L Morgan Lee (2021), Iyvon Edebiri (2019), Julia Jarcho (2018), and Leah Nanako Winkler (2017).

Tatarsky’s live performances, which play with perceptions of language and narrative structure, are highly responsive to venue and audience. Tatarsky's latest project, Nothing Doing, co-commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and Under the Radar, will be presented January 8-18, 2025, at Chemistry Creative in Brooklyn as part of Under the Radar Festival's Under Construction work-in-progress series.