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PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Awards
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The PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Awards for Drama recognize a master American dramatist and an American playwright in mid-career, both of whose literary achievements are vividly apparent in the rich and striking language of their work. The former receives a rare first edition of dramatic literature from Bauman’s Rare Books, the latter a $7,500 stipend. The awards were developed to reflect Laura Pels’ dedication to supporting excellence in American theater, as well as PEN’s commitment to recognizing and rewarding the literary accomplishments of playwrights.
Past honorees for the Master American Dramatist Award include Adrienne Kennedy, Wallace Shawn, Lanford Wilson, John Guare, Maria Irene Fornes, Richard Foreman, Horton Foote, Edward Albee, and Arthur Miller. Past honorees for the Mid-Career Award have been Dael Orlandersmith, Lynn Nottage, Tony Kushner, Charles L. Mee, Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, Richard Greenberg, Craig Lucas, and Stephen Adly Guirgis.
2007 judges: Paige Evans, James Houghton, and Donald Margulies
The 2007 PEN Literary Awards will presented in New York on the evening
of Monday, May 21 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.
For more information contact Nick Burd: (212) 334-1660, ext. 108, nick@pen.org
Please click here for more information on this award.
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2007 Awardees
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This year’s honorees are A.R. Gurney, best known for his plays The Dining Room, What I Did Last Summer, The Perfect Party, Mrs. Farnsworth, and Scenes from an American Life, and Naomi Iizuka, whose works include 36 Views, War of the Worlds, Language of the Angels, and Tattoo Girl. As is the case with all PEN awards, the judges of the Pels Awards are all distinguished members of the theater community.
To a master American dramatist: A.R. Gurney
From the judges’ citation: “Gurney looks upon his flawed characters critically, but with compassion. From play to play, he is alternately chronicler, caricaturist, philosopher, social critic, and romantic. Like his mentor Thornton Wilder, he is wiser than anyone in the room but never a scold; his whimsical turns in plays like The Fourth Wall and Sylvia are comic conceits worthy of James Thurber. His love of theater pervades his work. He is always challenging the form and in so doing challenges himself and his audience. He is a gentleman and a scholar, and a stellar, living example of that endangered species, The American Playwright.”
To an American playwright in mid-career: Naomi Iizuka
From the judges’ citation: “Her plays, from Polaroid Stories to 36 Views to Strike/Slip, combine innovative form with a multicultural worldview, while telling compelling stories peopled with vivid characters. Her work is fresh and exciting, intelligent and always surprising. Naomi grapples with big, thorny political issues of race, gender and identity in her plays; asking important questions without ever being didactic. She knows how to draw in an audience with intriguing stories, complicated, very human characters, and wry humor; she compels and entertains us, while creating bold new forms and always making us think.”
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