NEW YORK CITY: The National Arts Club has named Lauren Yee the recipient of its 2017 Kesselring Prize, which comes with $25,000 and a two-week residency. The prize is earmarked for young writers.
Yee’s plays include King of the Yees (currently at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle) and The Great Leap (which will be produced this season by Denver Center, Seattle Rep, and Atlantic Theatre Company). Each year the National Arts Club invites theatres to nominate an emerging playwright for the prize, and the Atlantic nominated Yee.
The Club will present the prize to Yee on Nov. 5. This year’s jurors for the prize were playwright John Guare; Anne Cattaneo, dramaturg of Lincoln Center Theater; and playwright Lynn Nottage.
The Kesselring Prize was established in 1980 by Charlotte Kesselring, widow of playwright Joseph Kesselring, to honor and support young writers who are not as yet nationally recognized. Previous Kesselring Prize winners are Lucas Hnath, Tony Kushner, Anna Deavere Smith, Nicky Silver, and Lindsey Ferrentino.
