Playwright Neil Wechsler has been selected as the second winner of the Yale Drama Series Competition, co-sponsored by the Yale University Press and the Yale Repertory Theatre. Wechsler’s original work, Grenadine, has been chosen by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee as the second installment in the series, following
John Austin Connolly‘s The Boys from Siam, which will be published in the fall.

A Buffalo-based writer, Wechsler graduated from Yale College, where he studied Philosophy and Psychology, in 1996. Grenadine tracks one man’s relationships with his three best friends as they journey through an unfamiliar landscape. The formal presentation of Wechsler’s award (which carries with it the David C. Horn Prize of $10,000) will take place at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park on Sunday, September 14, 2008. A reading of the play will be given by Yale Rep in New Haven on Monday, September 15.

Submissions are now being accepted for next year’s competition, which will be judged by British playwright David Hare. All entries must be postmarked no later than August 15, 2008. See here for more details.