Anne Washburn Named Recipient Of $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award

Hermitage Artist Retreat has announced that New York-based playwright Anne Washburn is the sixth recipient of the $35,000 Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA). Established in 2021, the award provides one of the largest unrestricted nonprofit theater commissions in the United States.

Washburn will receive a $35,000 cash prize, a residency at the Hermitage in Florida, and a developmental workshop of the newly commissioned work, anticipated for fall 2027 in New York at a theater to be announced.

Washburn’s plays include Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play, which was named a New York Times Critic’s Pick and included on The New York Times list of “The 25 Best American Plays Since Angels in America.” Her additional works include 10 Out of 12, Antlia Pneumatica, The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, A Devil at Noon, Apparition, The Communist Dracula Pageant, I Have Loved Strangers, The Ladies, Little Bunny Foo Foo, The Internationalist, Shipwreck, The Small, and transadaptations of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and Orestes. Her plays have been produced nationally and internationally at venues including Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Repertory Theater, Classic Stage Company, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, Two River Theater, Vineyard Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Her honors include an Alpert Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Whiting Award, and two Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist citations.

“I was delighted to receive the Hermitage Major Theater Award and residency,” said Washburn. “This is a demanding project I've been thinking about for years, and this award with the residency time at the Hermitage (at what looks like a dreamy stretch of this good earth) makes it all possible.”

Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg said, “Amidst four extraordinary and deserving finalists, Anne Washburn confirmed herself to be one of America's most compelling playwrights as she impressed us all with her inventive and ambitious proposal. We are honored to support Anne as she creates this epic new play, and we can't wait to see her brilliant work come to fruition.” Sandberg also acknowledged the award committee and congratulated finalists Adam Gwon, Talene Monahon, and Aya Ogawa.

The 2026 HMTA Award Committee included Evan Cabnet, Artistic Director of Second Stage Theater; Snehal Desai, Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group; and Jill Rafson, Producing Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company.

Finalists Adam Gwon, Talene Monahon, and Aya Ogawa each received a Hermitage residency and Fellowship along with a $1,000 prize.