Congratulations to Nia Akilah Robinson, winner of the 2026 Blue Ink Award for Overnight at the Museum.
As part of the award, Robinson receives a $3,000 cash prize and an opportunity to further develop her script as part of the 2026 Blue Ink Playwriting Festival, along with new work by finalists Benjamin Benne (and thou shalt be healed), and Claire Crowley (The Scouts of America Don’t Sell Cookies, B*tch).
2026 Blue Ink Award winner Nia Akilah Robinson notes, “My mother and my father created a household for any and all conversations regarding Black history were welcomed, debated, and celebrated. My mother always taught me to dig deeper into Black history, and my father taught me to find (if it was possible) the humor within it. I love museums and galleries, and there’s so much more to say about them; To Maboula Soumahoro – thank you for your classroom. This award is a great honor, thank you American Blues Theater.”
“We’re thrilled to name Nia Akilah Robinson’s play Overnight at the Museum as the 2026 Blue Ink Award for playwriting. Nia’s essential script about the repatriation of artifacts to Ghana brilliantly balances the poignant and timely theme on a sharp comic edge. We’re excited to present the staged reading to Chicago audiences as part of our Blue Ink Playwriting Festival,” comments Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside.
About Overnight at the Museum
Two Black men who work as night guards for museum security are stealing Ghanaian artifacts from a gentrified American neighborhood. Can they get them where they need to be before the grand opening of a “Neo-African Museum”? Overnight at the Museum is a hilarious heist story that masterfully toys with our definitions of history, legacy, and art.
About Nia Akilah Robinson
Nia Akilah Robinson (she/her) is a playwright and actor who reps Harlem with all her might. Productions: Soho Rep U.S. Off Broadway Premiere (2025 New York Times Critics Pick), NextStop Theatre (2026 Helen Hayes Recommended), Co-Pro: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company & Company One Theatre, Urbanite Theatre, Theatre503, Theatre Exile, and The Hearth. Her work has been seen and developed with Nashville Repertory Theatre (Ingram New Works Project), Steppenwolf Theatre, The New Group, The Ground Floor: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Waterwell, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Urbanite, and New Georges. Nia has been a MacDowell Fellow, Travis Bogard Eugene O’Neill Foundation Fellow, and a writer for PEN America and EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (short play). She has had residencies at NYSAF and The Pocantico Center through YoungArts. Nia’s work has been featured at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Fire This Time Festival, and the 48th Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. Nia has been awarded 1st Place for the 2023 A is For Playwriting Contest, the Next Wave Initiative Lorraine Hansberry Writing Scholarship, a Miranda Family Fund Commission, and the NYSCA Grant (CCCADI). She was shortlisted for the 2023 Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award. And Nia is a member or alumna of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood, I-73 at Page 73, The Orchard Project NYC Greenhouse, The Wish Collective, and TheBlackHERthePen. Education: Yale (DGSD- MFA Playwriting Candidate) & Juilliard (Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program).
2026 Blue Ink Award Finalists & Semifinalists
Featured Finalists: Benjamin Benne (and thou shalt be healed) & Claire Crowley (The Scouts of America Don’t Sell Cookies, B*tch).
Finalists: Cris Eli Blak (Sing For Me), Ida Cuttler (Moe is a Dick), Alexa Derman (Zionista Rising), Annalisa Dias (The Invention of Seeds), Yussef El Guindi (Slay), Gina Femia (That Time Terri and Lily Took a Road Trip to the Laura Ingalls Wilder House), Sarah Galante (Body Negative ), Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin (Ping Pong Play), Robin Goldberg (Ask Three Times), Idris Goodwin (Scarfoot Lives), Drew Larimore (A Place No One Can See), Victor Lesniewski (Virōdha), Gloria Majule (Possessed (or, “the Crazy African Girl” Play)), Nick Malakhow (Straw Poll), Bella Poynton (The Appliance Department), Marco Antonio Rodriguez (Walk-In), Jasmine Sharma (PEACHY: a sorta chekhovian traumedy), Scott C. Sickles (The Battlements), Phillip Christian Smith (God Save The Queen), Caridad Svich (War Painting), Collin Van Son (Two-Man Rule), LaDarrion Williams (Secondhand Lessons), Sharifa Yazmeen (Fairy Dust).
Semi-Finalists: John P. Bray (Tracks (or, the People Who Live Here)), Lee Cataluna (Stuck in Honolulu), Jayne Deely (When Pluto was a planet), Pedro Eiras (A Subject of Interest), Dominic Finocchiaro (s(c)e(n)e[n]), Brynne Frauenhoffer (Disillusioned), Anamaria Guerzon (Blood/Sucker), Luis Herrera (When we become ghosts), Surrey Houlker (Rest, Stop.), MJ Kang (Ada & Mee), Evalena Lakin (TOP GIRL, or the cheerleader play), Matthew Libby (Pizza Bagels), Rachel Lynett (Do Trees Still Grow in Brooklyn?), Aziza Macklin (Riverside), Montserrat Mendez (Sombraluz O La Presencia), D.A. Mindell (Can’t Make an Omelette), Nicholas Pilapil (Luca & Uri), Sean Pomposello (Cash Kings), Andrew Rincón (Tempt Me), Marcus Scott (Vinyl Vanguard), Ariel Stess (Little Beings), Jesús I. Valles (LLERMO! or My Big Fat Mexican Apotheosis, with Sincerest Gratitude to Lorca), Laura Winters (The Starters), TJ Young (We Fly), Nathan Yungerberg (Evelyn Dreams of Horses).
About the Blue Ink Award for Playwriting
Established in 2010 to support original, unpublished plays, the Blue Ink Award has grown into a nationally recognized platform for playwrights. Since its inception, the Award has named 16 winners, 197 finalists, and 283 semi-finalists, while distributing nearly $15,000 annually in cash prizes and development support to artists across the country.
Winning plays have gone on to premiere in major theater markets including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Diego, with many playwrights receiving further productions, commissions, and national recognition. Notable past recipients include Idris Goodwin, Benjamin Benne, Elaine Romero, and Kristoffer Diaz.
Each year American Blues Theater accepts worldwide submissions of original, unpublished full-length plays. The winning play will be selected by Executive Artistic Director Gwendolyn Whiteside and the theater’s ensemble. The 2026 winning playwright receives a monetary prize of $3,000. Cash prizes are awarded to finalists and semi-finalists too.
Submissions for the 2027 Blue Ink Award open August 1, 2026. All submissions must be received by American Blues Theater by August 31, 2026 at 11:59pm. Playwrights may only submit one (1) manuscript each year for consideration.