Lincoln, Neb.--Ian Borden, professor of theatre in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, and collaborator Kerry Wilks, won the inaugural Amy Williamsen Comedia Prize for Collaborative Research from the Association for Hispanic Classical Theatre (AHCT).
The award recognizes outstanding collaborative scholarship in early modern Hispanic theater and performance studies.
Borden received the award for the book he co-edited with Wilks titled “The Entremés in Performance: Translations of One-Act Plays from Golden Age Spain.” Released in February through Liverpool University Press, the bilingual anthology translates short Spanish comic interludes into English for the first time, bridging the gap between classical research and modern theatrical practice.
“The award is extremely gratifying,” Borden said. “It is named in honor of Amy Williamsen, who was the first ‘Siglo de Oro’ [Spanish Golden Age] scholar I worked with and who helped bring me into the world of Renaissance Spanish theatre, so just for that, I’m touched. Moreover, it celebrates the work of multiple scholars and multiple translators over a seven-year period, and that includes scrambling to keep in touch and keep the project moving forward during Covid. This confirms that the work I did with Kerry Wilks, my co-editor and fellow translator, and the work of all of the scholars and translators (16 in total) has been recognized for its excellence.”
Wilks is the associate vice chancellor for graduate studies and research at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and a professor of Spanish.
The Spanish early modern period was one of the most dynamic eras in the history of theater. However, the theater of the Spanish Golden Age is poorly known outside of Spain and scholars of the ‘Siglo de Oro.” In particular, plays translated into English represent only a small fraction of the thousands written. Borden and Wilks’ anthology is the first to collect English versions of these plays from multiple authors under one cover and is aimed at performance rather than traditional literary renditions.
The AHCT was founded in 1984 and is dedicated to promoting and fostering a deeper appreciation of Span’s classical drama in performance. Spanish classical drama, commonly known as the “Comedia,” is one of the most remarkable theatrical phenomena in the West. In the Early Modern Period, Spain produced more than 1,000 playwrights and over 10,000 surviving plays, influencing Europe and the Americas in its own time and far beyond.
October 2, 2026
Ian Borden
