Congratulations to Dan O'Brien, whose Lamarck has just been selected to receive the American Theatre Critics Association's sixth annual Elizabeth Osborn Award for an emerging playwright. In the surreal Lamarck, an American searches for an allegedly insane woman in Paris. She's reported to be the last living relative of pre Darwinian scientific theorist Lamarck. O'Brien is a Rhode Island resident and Brown University graduate student. His Lamarck received a staged reading at Trinity Rep and a production in November 1998 at the Perishable Theatre, both in Providence.

The Osborn Award, which comes with a $300 prize, will be given out Feb. 20 at the Broadway Grill restaurant as part of American Theatre Critics Association's annual New York conference. Last year's winner was Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living. (Please note that the Osborn Award -- named for late theatre critic Elizabeth Osborn -- is separate from ATCA's New Play Award, still to be announced.)

-- By David Lefkowitz