Alumna Inducted into College of Fellows of the American Theatre

Theatre alumna Caridad Svich ’85 has been inducted in the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, one of 16 theatre professionals in the 2025 class, which includes luminaries such as playwright August Wilson (inducted posthumously) and actor André De Shields. Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the College of Fellows of the American Theatre promotes and encourages “the highest standards of research, writing, and creativity in educational and professional theatre through honoring distinguished service and notable accomplishment by individuals of recognized national stature.” This year’s induction ceremony took place on April 27 in Washington, D.C.

Svich is a multiple award-winning playwright, translator, editor, and screenwriter whose work has been produced across the U.S. and internationally. In 2024 she was named a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow.

A prolific writer in English and Spanish, Svich has written more than 100 plays, short works and translations. Her list of awards and honors is long. She received a 2012 OBIE Award for Lifetime Achievement in the theatre, a 2012 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize. She has won the National Latino Playwriting Award twice and has been short-listed for the PEN Award in Drama four times. In 2018, Caridad received the Ellen Stewart Award for Career Achievement in Professional Theatre by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and in 2023 received the Flora Roberts Award from The Dramatists Guild.

Svich currently serves as Artistic Director of New Play Development at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City and is collaborating with composer Stephen Schwartz, lyricist Gordon Greenberg, and actor Antonio Banderas on a musical about Pablo Picasso. Recent books include “Toward a Future Theatre” (2022) and the anthology “Transmedia Theatre Plays” (2025), which she edited. Her film “Fugitive Dreams,” co-written with and directed by Jason Neulander and based on her play of the same name, garnered acclaim at festivals in 2020 and 2021 and was publicly released in 2024.

Svich received the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award in Theatre from the College of Arts + Architecture. “One of the things I learned at UNC Charlotte was to follow my own creative path and curiosities as an artist,” she says, “to trust my instincts, and to strive for excellence always.”