Amber Ruffin to Host 2025 Dramatists Guild Foundation Gala

Dramatists Guild Foundation has revealed that Amber Ruffin, Tony, Emmy and Writers Guild nominated writer, comedian and New York Times best-selling author, will return as host of the organization’s annual Gala on October 20, 2025, at Ziegfeld Ballroom. This year’s Gala will celebrate 25 years of the DGF Fellows program, fostering emerging dramatists through mentorship and collaboration to prepare their next great story for the stage. 

About Amber Ruffin

Emmy, Tony, and WGA Award nominee Amber Ruffin is an NYC-based comedy writer, playwright, best-selling author, actress, sketch comic, singer, voice artist, and host. She is best known for work as a writer/performer on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and as host of The Amber Ruffin Show, which ran from 2020-2023 on Peacock garnering nominations from Critics Choice, TCA, NAACP Image and GLAAD Media Awards. She is also currently a returning Team Captain on CNN’s acclaimed comedy-news weekly talks series, Have I Got News For You, which she leads opposite Roy Wood Jr. and Michael Ian Black. As a writer for musical theatre, Amber earned a “Best Book of a Musical” Tony nomination for co-writing the Tony-winning musical Some Like it Hot (produced by Mariah Carey), which is currently touring, as well as The Wiz revival (produced by Common), which launched on Broadway in 2024 and just began touring. Additionally she co-wrote the book for the popular original musical BIGFOOT!, which 54 Below premiered in 2024 starring SNL’s Alex Moffat. She trained in sketch comedy and improvisation at The Second City Chicago Mainstage and Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. Her fellow Boom Chicago alumni include Jason Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, and Jordan Peele (whom she has starred alongside with in Comedy Central’s Key & Peele). Shortly after, Amber joined Late Night, becoming the first African American female to write for a late-night network talk show in the U.S. In addition, she was a writer/performer for the 2018 and 2019 Golden Globe Awards, 2022 Tony Awards and has written for the Emmy-nominated series A Black Lady Sketch Show. Her voice work can be heard on such titles as Netflix’s Big Mouth and Apple’s Central Park as well as the purple M&M in their commercials. Amber frequently travels the country hosting and moderating various events including E! Live’s 2024 Emmy’s carpet coverage, the 2024 and 2018 Webby Awards, the 2023 PFLAG 50th Anniversary Gala, 2022 and 2023 Countdown Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2022 Neiman Marcus’ White Elephant holiday luncheon, 2022 Inc. Magazine 5000 Conference Gala, the 2022 EBONY Power 100 Gala, and the 2024 Variety Power of Women NY Luncheon. 

As previously announced, playwright and educator Chisa Hutchinson (DGF Fellow, 2010-2011), Tony-Nominated lyricist and librettist and longtime DGF Fellows Chair and Mentor Michael Korie, and PLAYBILL magazine’s first female publisher Jolie Schaffzin will be honored. Noah Himmelstein will direct the evening’s program, with Lily Ling as Music Director. 

Started at the Dramatists Guild in 2000, the DGF Fellows program was founded by acclaimed writers Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Janet Neipris, and Susan Miller. They believed it was vital to bring writers together to learn from each other’s different perspectives, see how collaboration creates magic, and foster community. For nearly 25 years, the Fellows program has springboarded the careers of 250 playwrights and musical theater writers, including Pulitzer finalists, Tony Award winners, and recipients of Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy Awards. This program has been championed by numerous generous donors, including support from the Jeffrey Seller Family Foundation.