In 2020, Juilliard-trained playwright and onetime POZ cover subject Donja R. Love (December 2021) formed a playwriting program titled Write It Out! (WIO!) specifically to nurture the work of playwrights living with HIV via workshops. Then, in 2021, with sponsorship from actor Billy Porter and GLAAD, Love launched the inaugural WIO! Prize. On December 2, 2023, with sponsorship from Broadway Cares, the Terrence McNally Foundation, ViiV Healthcare, the Each Other Project and GLAAD, WIO! awarded $5,000 to one lucky writer. The award was presented during a staged reading of the short plays from workshop participants in partnership with the National Queer Theater. (For more, see “Playwrights With HIV Debut Works”.)
On December 13, Housing Works held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new Westside Community Health Center on 48th Street in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The center, the organization’s sixth in New York City, offers primary care, behavioral and sexual health services, case management, adult day health care and services for youth. Through its health centers and partner pharmacies, Housing Works serves the needs of thousands of low-income New Yorkers with HIV as well as those at risk of contracting the virus. Meanwhile, its thrift shops employ many of its clients while raising funds for its mission.
WIO! founder Donja R. Love (sporting a signature chapeau) was visibly moved at the WIO! presentation of staged readings of plays by various writers living with HIV.National Queer Theater/Facebook
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