Rachel Walshe was the 2010 DePaul Awardee of the Edes Foundation Prize.
“In Chicago Walshe made a name for herself as a director of plays by and about women at DePaul and with the Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, where she earned a best-director nomination in the 2009 Jeff Awards for These Shining Lives . . .
Walshe relocated to her native Rhode Island in 2010. There, with support from the Edes prize, she continued to develop her sills in the role of visiting artistic director at Providence’s Perishable Theatre,
which is widely known for its annual International Women’s Playwriting Festival as well as its regular program of new work by women.
Walshe’s new title opened doors, enabling her to network with other women directors and playwrights throughout the country. In addition to producing the theater’s 15th women’s playwriting festival, Walshe directed Carson Kreitzer’s 1:23, a harrowing work taken directly from the confessions of two women convicted of killing their own children.
‘The Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists gave me a sturdy launching pad,’ she continues. ‘I’ve been invited to direct a number of plays throughout New England — my home — which is very exciting. I feel blessed and very charged that my year was so successful in that respect.’ ”