NEW YORK CITY: Dramatists Guild of America has announced six initial DG Award recipients. The Hull-Warriner Award will go to Samuel D. Hunter for A Case for the Existence of God and Sanaz Toossi for English. This is the only award given by dramatists to fellow dramatists. It is presented annually by the Dramatists Guild Council to an author or team of authors in recognition of a play dealing with controversial subjects involving the fields of political, religious, or social mores of the times.
The finalists for this year’s Hull-Warriner Award are Joshua Harmon for Prayer for the French Republic, James Ijames for Fat Ham, Mona Monsour for The Vagrant Trilogy, and Bruce Norris for Downstate.
The recipient of this year’s Flora Roberts Award is Caridad Svich. Administered by the Dramatists Guild Foundation, this award is presented to a dramatist in recognition of distinguished work in the theatre and to encourage the continuation of that work.
The Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by the Dramatists Guild Council in recognition of distinguished lifetime achievement in theatrical writing. The guild will present two Lifetime Achievement Awards this year: to cartoonist/playwright/screenwriter Jules Feiffer and to the writing team of Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford (I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road).
The DG Awards will be presented at Joe’s Pub on Monday, May 15. The ceremony is open to the public with limited tickets available. Recipients for the Dramatists Guild’s other awards, including the Horton Foote Award, the Frederick Loewe Award, the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund Defender Award, and the Lanford Wilson Award will be announced on awards night.
Founded in 1919, the Dramatists Guild of America is a professional association for playwrights, librettists, lyricists, and composers writing for the American stage. With over 10,000 members around the world, the Guild is guided by a governing council of writers who each give their time, interest, and support to advance the rights of dramatists everywhere. The Guild’s advocacy, programs, events, publications, and other service aim to provide dramatists with the resources, the community, and the support they require to protect their property, their livelihoods, and their unique voices in the American theatre.
