03/03/2026
The School of Communication Studies at SIU, Carbondale is pleased to announce the winner of the 2026 Marion Kleinau National Scripting Award! The award, funded through a generous donation from Dr. Marion Kleinau, recognizes the adaptation of non-dramatic literature that calls forth the best in human potential.
This year’s winner is Dr. Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock, Professor of Communication and Performance Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The committee selected her script for an adaptation of the legend of La Befana, a traditional Italian holiday tale. Scott-Pollock’s adaptation of this familiar legend is primarily drawn from the book, The Legend of Old Befana: An Italian Christmas Tale by Tomie DePaola. Dr. Scott-Pollock's adaptation, titled, "The Legend of La Befana: The Italian Christmas Witch" premiered on November 5th, 2025 and ran through November 12th at the Studio Black Box in Leutze Hall at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Included in the photos below is a picture of Dr. Scott-Pollock alongside a poster for the show, as well as several shots from the production and a group photo of Dr. Scott-Pollock and the cast.
"The Legend of La Befana: The Italian Christmas Witch" interweaves the Italian legend of “La Befana” with the story’s complex relationship with an ancient Sabine goddess and contemporary Christian rituals. Throughout the performance, multiple narrators question and interrupt each other, as well as the main characters, to illuminate how legends and their characters persist because they fulfill the needs of the people who create them. As Dr. Scott-Pollock notes, the script exemplifies Paul Edwards’ description of contemporary “... adaptation as dialogic interaction with literature and the broader questions beyond the text.” La Befana’s cultural connection to the Sabine people’s Goddess Strenia, the protector of children whose festival offered prosperity for the coming year at the Winter Solstice, and the birth of Jesus in the Christian faith, allows the audience to trace the motivations of humans to create characters who give us ‘something to believe in’ at the coldest, darkest time of year. While the characters may evolve with time and culture, their shared purpose and the need for caretakers that provide protection when we feel vulnerable remains enduring.
The judges and the School of Communication Studies are grateful to Dr. Kleinau for the opportunity she afforded us to recognize this compelling script adapting this traditional tale, which includes a $5,000 prize. A call for the 2027 prize will go out by the end of May 2026, via NCA’s COMMNotes, Perforum (the NCA Performance Studies Division Newsletter), the Performance Studies Division’s discussion list, and through various Facebook groups. If you would like to be included in the distribution of the call, please contact Dr. Rebecca Walker Anderson ([email protected]). Please note, while the next winner will not be awarded until 2027, script submissions for the 2027 award will be due in the fall of 2026, on September 15th.
