The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has established a new fellowship for playwriting students.

The Beverly J. Robinson Memorial Fellowship for Playwrights will be a national award dedicated to the creation of new theater works featuring untold stories from the American landscape.

The fellowship will seek nationwide applicants for the granting of two awards per year to students accepted into the school's M.F.A. Playwriting Program, while supporting each fellow for up to three years.

The award was established to honor UCLA professor Beverly J. Robinson, theater scholar, folklorist, author, producer, writer, director and longtime faculty member in the department of theater. From 1978 until her death of pancreatic cancer in 2002 at age 56, Robinson taught a legendary survey course in African American theater, attended at UCLA on Friday afternoons by scores of graduate and undergraduate students. She served as consultant on such films as "The Color Purple," "Coming to America" and "Miss Evers' Boys."

"Professor Robinson's passionate commitment to socially conscious theater has inspired thousands of UCLA students," said Robert Rosen, dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television. "She was a great teacher, a significant scholar and a life force for her colleagues."

For information on the fellowship, go to http://www.tft.ucla.edu/ and follow the links to the theater department and then the Beverly J. Robinson Memorial Fellowship for Playwrights.

Information on the M.F.A. Playwriting Program may be obtained by contacting Andrea Buchanan, graduate student counselor, at andreab@tft.ucla.edu; by calling (310) 825-6899; or by mail at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Theater Department, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90095.

Consistently ranked among the leading institutions in the nation, the School of Theater, Film and Television is unique in the world in that it brings together the arts of theater, film and television in one academic institution. UCLA's reputation as an outstanding training ground for the theater, film and television professions, and for critical scholarship, is based on its long tradition of fostering creative growth, encouraging experimentation and ensuring artistic freedom. Many of the most respected names in the entertainment and communication arts, and the world of scholarship, are UCLA alumni.

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