Frank J. Avella is a film journalist for Edge Media Network and The Contending as well as the Industry Liaison for GALECA (The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics) and a member of New York Film Critics Online.
Frank J. Avella is the recipient of a 2023 and 2019 International Writers Retreat Residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle (Assisi, Italy) and a 2018 Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship.
VATICAN FALLS, his play about the Catholic sex abuse scandal, was a 2021 semifinalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and finally World Premiered at the Tank in NYC in the fall of 2022.
LURED, a play about the Russia persecution of gays, was a 2018 O’Neill semifinalist and had its world premiere at Theater for the New City in 2018. The play was featured in the OnStage! American Theater Festival in Rome, Italy in 2019 and selected for the 2021 Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. Frank was awarded a 2018 Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Grant for LURED. Luredtheplay.com.
Frank received a 2015 NJ State Arts Council Fellowship Award for his play, CONSENT (a 2019 O’Neill semifinalist) as well as a 2016 Helene Wurlitzer Residency Grant & Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation Playwright Award.
Produced work includes CATAMITUS (2019 Best Play, Five & Dime Drama Collective) THE DEAD BOY, GREENER, THE BUBBLE, IRIS, LEXY, MICHAEL’S #1 FAN, 3 CAINS, UNHINGING and GODFORSAKEN. Other plays: ORVILLE STATION, FOR MAMMA, NEMESIS, MAD, LESS THAN 2 DEGREES.
The CONSENT screenplay won the Best Feature Screenplay at the 2021 Oz Indie Film Festival (Australia), the Best Screenplay Award at the 2020 Austria International Film Festival, the Best LGBT Screenplay Award at the 2020 New Renaissance Film Festival (Amsterdam) and the Best Drama Screenplay Award at the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival and has, to date, been a Finalist or Selected for 31 other Festivals/Contests, in 12 different countries
The LURED screen adaptation is a winner, finalist or has been selected for 21 separate Festivals/Awards in nine countries. SCREW THE COW is a winner/finalist in 11 different Festivals/Competitions. FIG JAM is a winner/finalist for 19 awards/festivals. MULTITASKING and FIG DUDE are also winners/finalists for Festivals.
His new epic play is titled FROCI.
Frank is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.
https://newplayexchange.org/users/5582/frank-j-avella
https://filmfreeway.com/FrankAvella
