LA playwright Jamie Pachino was awarded the Primus Prize for her play, SPLITTING INFINTY. The Primus Prize is awarded by the Francesca Ronnie Primus Foundation and the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) to an emerging woman theater artist, either a playwright, artistic director or director. The award recipient receives $10,000 2009 and a trip to the ATCA conference at the O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut.

SPLITTING INFINITY is a smart and witty exploration of faith, science, love, and ambition surrounding Leigh Sangold, a Nobel prize-winning astrophysicist, who takes on the definitive scientific challenge: to use physics to prove whether God exists. Leigh's quest for a renewed sense of self in her life threatens her closest relationships with Saul Lieberman, a tenderhearted Rabbi who's been in love with her since childhood, and her lover, a competitive post-doctoral student who is the son of a Christian Scientist. Splitting Infinity tests the boundaries of relationships and zealous ambition. It seeks to answer the questions we have about ourselves, each other, and the universe through the scientific and religious equation.

Upon winning the award, Pachino said, "The Primus Prize is one that is extremely respected by women playwrights and I am so honored and delighted to be recognized."

Jaime Pachino is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter with national and international credits. Her play, Splitting Infinity, was named the winner of the Laurie Foundation Theatre Visionary Award, and the STAGE competition for plays about science. Other plays include Waving Goodbye (world premiere Steppenwolf Theatre, winner of the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, and Chicago's Jeff Award for Best New Work); The Return to Morality (winner of eight national awards, produced throughout the U.S.); Aurora's Motives, Race and Theodora: An Unauthorized Biography.

The Primus Prize has historically been awarded to an outstanding female playwright recognizing a single script. While the award committee retains an interest in honoring achievement in the writing of plays, it will also actively consider female artists whose work is outstanding in other theatrical disciplines, including artistic direction, stage direction, acting, design, production and dramaturgy. The award generally will seek to honor women of significant achievement who have not yet attained national prominence.

For more than 30 years, the American Theatre Critics Association, Inc. has provided opportunities for members to explore the vast artistic resources of our National Theatre and of theatre around the globe. We work to foster greater communication among theatre critics in the United States and abroad, advocate absolute freedom of expression in theatre and theatre criticism, strive to increase public awareness of the theatre as an important national resource and reaffirm the individual critic's right to disagree with the opinions of colleagues.

The American Theatre Critics Association is the only national association of professional theatre critics. Our several hundred members work for newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and on-line services across the United States.