Just In: Stephen Schwartz to Receive 2015 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award

It's a big day for Tony Awards news, less than 24 hours from tomorrow morning's nominations! The Tony Awards® Administration Committee hasjust announced Stephen Schwartz as this year's recipient for the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award.

The Isabelle Stevenson Award is presented annually to a member of the theatre community who has made a substantial contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations. Stephen Schwartz will be presented the Award for his commitment to serving artists and fostering new talent through his work with ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, ASCAP Foundation and helping develop new partnerships as President of the Dramatists Guild.

"Stephen's successes span far beyond the Broadway stage through his commitment to fostering the next generation of musical theatre actors, lyricists and composers. We are thrilled to celebrate his countless triumphs with this honor," Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, President of the American Theatre Wing, said.

Schwartz began his Broadway career in 1969 with the title song for Butterflies Are Free. Since then, he has become known for his music and lyrics for such shows as Godspell, Pippin and Wicked. But he has also worked on many projects of educational, charitable and social value to the theatre community.

For the past six years, as President of the Dramatists Guild, he has worked to strengthen and protect the rights of American dramatists, including battling censorship and piracy and improving the relationship between writers and directors, actors and producers.

As a long-standing board member of the ASCAP Foundation, he has served as artistic director of the Musical Theatre Workshops in New York and Los Angeles for more than 20 years, nurturing many of the young composers and lyricists working in the theatre today. He has also brought the ASCAP workshop to multiple cities around the country, as well as conducting frequent master classes at universities and regional theatres for aspiring writers and performers. Internationally, Schwartz has done master classes for musical theatre writers and performers in such countries as Germany, Australia, Latvia and Kenya.

In response to recent teen suicides, he wrote the choral piece "Testimony" and helped produce the choral piece "Tyler's Suite", both performed frequently in anti-bullying campaigns in schools around the country.

His other charitable work has included organizing last fall's Uprising of Love concert at the Gershwin Theatre to benefit and raise awareness of LGBT people in hostile countries, producing benefits for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Faustman Clinic, and appearing in benefits for such causes as the Sandy Hook families, Marriage Equality, the Orphaned Starfish Foundation, the Gender and Family Project, etc.

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