Lahr & Epperson Present at Theatre Library Book Awards, 6/2

John Epperson, John Lahr, and Gerald Schoenfeld will be among those celebrating the authors of outstanding performing arts books on Friday, June 2nd. A host of distinguished presenters will gather for the 38th Annual Theatre Library Association Book Awards on in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, located at Lincoln Center.

John Epperson, also known as his glamorous alter ego, Lypsinka, will present the George Freedley Memorial Award, honoring excellence in writing on live theatre during 2005, to Kathryn Shevelow for Charlotte: Being a True Account of an Actress' Flamboyant Adventures in London's Wild and Wicked Theatrical World (Henry Holt & Company). The Freedley Special Jury Prize will go to Linda Ben-Zvi for Susan Glaspell: Her Life and Times (Oxford University Press). The award will be presented by Glaspell scholar and author, Martha C. Carpentier.

The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema (Routledge), edited by Richard Abel is the winner of the 2005 TLA Award for excellence in writing on film and broadcasting. Eileen Bowser, Curator Emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Film and Video, will present the award, which will be accepted by film curator Charles Silver. The TLA Special Jury Prize goes to Daniel Goldmark, author of Tunes for Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon (University of California Press). Goldmark will receive his award from film composer Ronald Sadoff.

The Freedley Award is named for George Freedley, the first Curator of the New York Public Library's Theatre Collection, and first President of the Theatre Library Association. It is presented annually for the best book on live theatre published in the United States in the previous year. The Theatre Library Association Award is given annually for the best book published the previous year in the area of recorded performance. A cash prize accompanies each award.

Three recipients of TLA's award for Distinguished Achievement in Service and Support of Performing Arts Libraries will also be honored. The award, given to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the field, will be presented by Shubert Organization Chairman Gerald Schoenfeld to Maryann Chach, Director/Chief Archivist of the Shubert Archive; by senior drama critic for The New Yorker, John Lahr, to theater historian and writer Dr. Mary C. Henderson; and by Phyllis R. Klotman, Professor Emeritus of Afro-American Studies, Indiana University, to Madeline Fitzgeral, Library of Congress.

The presentation will take place promptly at 6:00 P.M. in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (enter at Amsterdam and 65th Street).d Matz, former Reference and Research Specialist in the Motion Picture and Television Reading Room A champagne reception will follow. Doors open at 5:30.