Beacon Award

Beacon Theatre Productions is seeking play submissions for our 2026 Beacon Award. For more information, visit our homepage, or click here for the submission form.

Our annual Beacon Award is given to a playwright for a play the exemplifies Beacon's mission to spotlight critical moments of our past to make a better future. The playwright receives a stipend and a staged reading produced by Beacon Theatre.

Past winners:

2025

"Felipillo" by Tyler Rocio Ecoña

Meet the Playwright
Tyler Rocio Ecoña is a Peruvian-American playwright, performer, and theatre artist in Lenapehoking, aka Philadelphia. Their work explores bilingual dialogues and intersectional realities through magical realism and hope beyond margin. Ecoña has been a resident at the Kennedy Center's Playwright Discovery Competition, a Silver Medal recipient at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and a recent Season Apprentice at InterAct Theatre Company. Their work has been featured by Philadelphia Theatre Company, Temple University's Institute on Disabilities, Philly Women's Theatre Festival, Azukafest, Cannonball Fringe & more. BFA: University of the Arts @tyleriito

Meet the play
Nowadays, in Peru, the nickname "Felipillo" is attached to those considered national traitors — in this play, an investigation ensues. Based on the true history of a Native servant who translated for Spanish conquistadors during the invasion of the Inca Empire, we follow Felipillo and a chorus of historians examining his legacy through a time-bending reconstruction of his life. The mainstream story still circulated in Peru frames Felipillo as a traitor to his country. But exactly how much was lost in translation? Who determines what goes down in history, and is it possible to re-write?