The Dramatists Guild of America's annual awards ceremony is held May 6 at Sony Hall.

The cocktail hour, which begins at 6:30 PM, will feature a performance from the musical trio Bandits on the Run and recent Days of Wine and Roses star, 2024 Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James. Presenters for the evening include Arts Workers United, David Adjmi, Dave Harris, Mara Isaacs, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Rajiv Joseph, Roger Q. Mason, Robert O’Hara, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Matthew Sklar.

Playwright Christopher Durang, who passed away in April at the age of 75, will be honored posthumously with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. The Guild's Lifetime Achievement Awards, recognizing distinguished lifetime achievement in theatrical writing, will also be presented to George C. Wolfe and Emily Mann.

The Hull-Warriner Award, presented annually 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, will be given to Jocelyn Bioh for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, the Harlem-set, Tony-nominated play seen on Broadway earlier this season. (Finalists included Eboni Booth for Primary Trust, Rebecca Gilman for Swing State, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins for The Comeuppance, and Qui Nguyen for Poor Yella Rednecks.)

The Frederick Loewe Award, recognizing achievement in a theatrical score presented on or Off-Broadway during the previous calendar year, will be presented to Adam Guettel for Days of Wine and Roses, which played a limited Broadway engagement earlier this season after an acclaimed Off-Broadway run at the Atlantic Theater Company.

Tony nominee Austin Pendleton will receive the Flora Roberts Award—presented to a dramatist in recognition of distinguished work in the theatre and to encourage the continuation of that work—while playwrights Seayoung Yim and Minna Lee will both receive The Lanford Wilson Award, given to a dramatist based primarily on their work as an early career or “emerging” playwright.

The Horton Foote Award, honoring dramatists whose works seek to plumb the ineffable nature of being human, will be presented to Eboni Booth, whose play Primary Trust premiered at Roundabout Theatre Company in summer 2023, and Shayan Lotfi, who will be represented Off-Broadway later this month with the world premiere of What Became of Us at Atlantic Theater Company.

The Dramatists Guild will also honor the inaugural recipients of the Dramatists Guild Advocacy Award, which celebrates leading advocates within the theatrical community, highlighting those who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to promoting the professional and economic interests of theatre writers, ensuring their voices are heard and their contributions are recognized.

The inaugural recipients include Jordans playwright Ife Olujobi for her work advocating for wage increases for playwrights at The Public Theater, which marked the first increase in playwright pay at the Off-Broadway company in 12 years; and Pulitzer Prize finalist Warren Leight and the Captains of the 2023 Writers Guild of America Strike, who led the charge for new contracts for film and TV writers on the ground during ongoing negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Their efforts, galvanized by the solidarity of the Screen Actors Guild and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, united the members of WGA East and West to demonstrate and leverage their power for 148 days.

The 365 strike captains will be represented at the awards by Micharne Cloughley, Patrick Coker, Karen DiConcetto, David Handelman, Sheri Holman, Starlee Kine, Sarah Montana, Victoria Pollack, Iturri Sosa, and Adam Wiesen.

Since its inception in 1919, the Dramatists Guild of America has been the professional association for playwrights, librettists, lyricists, and composers writing for the American stage.

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