Literary Awards & Honors (Selected)

• A is For Playwriting Prize – First-Place Winner – 2022
• Henley Rose Playwriting Award – First-Place Winner – 2022
• Jane Chambers Award – Top-4 Finalist & Honoree – 2021
• Woodward/Newman Drama Award – Finalist (top 12 out of over 1,000) – 2021
• New American Voices Award (The Landing Theatre) – co-winner – 2020
• Playhouse Creatures (NYC) Emerging Playwrights Celebration -Winner (twice) – 2022 and 2020
• Sohaya Visions (London) RAFTA Festival – Official Selection and Special Commendation – 2022
• SETC New Play Award – First-Place Winner – 2021 (also First-Alternate Winner 2017)
• Eugene O’Neill Theatre Centre – National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist – (four times) 2017, 2018, 2020, 2024
• ATHE Award for Excellence in Playwriting – Second-Place Winner – 2018
• PlayPenn Top-12 Finalist -2017
• Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle Hart New Play Initiative – top 21 (from over 1,200) – 2018
• HRC Showcase – Official Selection (twice) – 2018, 2020
• Arts & Letters Drama Prize Finalist (twice) – 2019, 2021
• Santa Barbara PlayFest – Outstanding New Play & Honoree Playwright in Residence – 2020
• Playhouse on the Square / New Works at The Works – Official Selection – twice 2022 and 2020
• Theatre in the Raw (Vancouver) – Biennial Award for Best New One-Act Play -2020  
• Julie Harris New-Play Award – Top-5 – 2017
• Marsha A. Croyle Award for Achievement in Playwriting – 2019
• UP Theatre (NYC) Renewal Project – Top 15 – 2020
• Theatre 503 (London) – International New Play Award Long List – 2018
• MultiStages (NYC) New Play Award – Final Round (Top 12) – 2017
• British Theatre Challenge Final Short List (twice) – 2018, 2019
• Hidden River Arts – Best New One-Act Play – First Place – 2019
• Frostburg Arts Center – Best New One Act-Play (2nd Place 2018, 3rd Place 2019)
• PEN America LitFest – Selected as one of sixteen featured writers (“Literary Hosts”) – 2018
• Pushcart Prize Nominee

Reviews & Press

“AGATHE by Angela J. Davis . . . . There can be few things more inspirational and more harrowing on the London stage right now.”

– Salterton Arts Review (London)

“A captivating insight into a forgotten leader. Recommended.”

– The Morning Star (London)https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/captivating-insight-forgotten-leader

“[Recommended] The play’s [AGATHE] most disturbing figure is a radio shock-jock who prepares his listeners for genocide with poetic propaganda. ‘Time to roll up the sleeves and get rid of the fleas,’ he trills. He blames the Tutsis for social problems and says they ‘must be rectified with insecticide’. These fascinating lyrics demonstrate how mass murder can be fomented by manipulating the prejudices of ordinary citizens. . . . “

– The Spectator (London)

“[Four stars.] Do yourself a favor and catch this play [AGATHE] before it goes. You’ll thank me later.”

– Breaking the Fourth Wall (London)

“Once in a while, too rarely, a new play-of-ideas comes along that . . . speaks out to an increasingly inhumane world of what it means to be humane. The Spanish Prayer Book is one such work… a literary descendant of Thomas Stoppard’s Arcadia… an intricate, beautiful, and important play…”

Stephen Leigh Morris
Recent Member & Chair of Pulitzer Prize Jury for Drama
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“Judges celebrated the inherent feminism in the recovery of feminist history and this play’s effective illumination of an over- looked female figure. This fast-paced, well-written play [AGATHE] depicts her harrowing final days, and her clear-sighted vision as her country gives rise to ethnic nationalism, abetted by geopolitical webs and virulent violence, even as it celebrates her bravery, African feminist legacy and successful bid to save all of her children. The play successfully honors and celebrates Agathe’s legacy, even as it shares the tell of her tragic loss . . . “

– Jane Chambers Award Judges’ Curation Notes / https://www.womenandtheatreprogram.com/jane-chambers

“This exquisite play, [The Spanish Prayer Book] with its central characters all flawed and slightly broken – just like the rest of us – addresses our capacity for truth.  It asks the question of belonging, of entitlement and of respect. As the auction of precious books smuggled out of war-torn Germany and kept safe by the son of the thief grows near, his daughter and his widow wonder how and why they can profit from this sale and if anyone should own such artifacts… this marvelous and moving play touches on our most deeply held beliefs.”

Samantha Simmonds Ronceros
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The Spanish Prayer Book L.A. Times BEST BET: “A literate meditation on the boundaries of ownership and social responsibility.”

L.A. Times

“[Highest Rating]… [The Spanish Prayer Book] presents in dramatic elements the issues related to the fate of sacred manuscripts.”

Rich Bowery, Accessibly Live Off-Line
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“Gripping… [The Spanish Prayer Book] raises provocative questions but remains entertaining as it does so.”

Elaine Mura, Splash Magazine
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“[The Spanish Prayer Book] grapples with big questions… bringing clarity to every emotion… dazzling.”

Bob Rich, Tolucan Times

“. . . [Clara and Serra and the Talking Bear] . . . is both a bit ridiculous and unexpectedly moving, as its allegorical framework outlines convincing links between the best and worst impulses of California’s historical legacies, set against the specific backdrop of questioning the authority of the past.”

– Shana Nys Dambrot, L.A. Weekly

Broadway World: Landing Theatre Announces New American Voices Winners
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Houstonia Magazine: “Meet the Future of American Playwriting” 
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KPCC Public Radio / LA-ist: “Things to Do This Week Online” [highlighting Houston performance of AGATHE]
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KPFK / Public Radio Interview with Julio Martinez
September 20, 2019
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