McCarter Theatre to Honor Former Artistic Director and Resident Playwright Emily Mann at Annual Gala

McCarter Theatre Center announced that former Artistic Director and Resident Playwright Emily Mann will receive the inaugural Roger S. Berlind Award at its annual gala on June 12, 2026.

"This award recognizes not only a lifetime of transformative art, but a profound commitment to cultivating the conditions in which artists can thrive and do their very best work," said McCarter Artistic Director Sarah Rasmussen. "It is a fitting tribute to a woman whose vision shaped McCarter for three decades and whose influence continues to resonate across the American theatre."

Named in honor of McCarter’s late and beloved champion Roger Berlind, the award launches a new tradition celebrating artists and arts leaders whose enduring contributions have created ripples far beyond McCarter’s Princeton stages.

A Tony Award-nominated director and playwright, Mann served as McCarter’s Artistic Director and Resident Playwright for 30 years. During her tenure, she wrote 15 new plays and adaptations, directed more than 50 productions, and produced 180 plays and musicals. Under her leadership, McCarter Theatre Center received the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, recognizing its national artistic impact.

Mann championed both emerging and legendary artists, including Ntozake Shange, Athol Fugard, Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, Nilo Cruz, Joyce Carol Oates, Tarell Alvin McCraney, and Danai Gurira. Renowned for her interpretations of Williams, Lorca, Chekhov, and Shakespeare, she has directed on Broadway her own plays Execution of Justice and Having Our Say, as well as Cruz’s Anna in the Tropics and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.

Her plays also include Still Life, Annulla, An Autobiography, Greensboro: A Requiem, Meshugah, Mrs. Packard, The Pianist, and Gloria: A Life, which aired on PBS’ Great Performances. She has received a Peabody Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, six Obie Awards, multiple lifetime achievement awards, and was inducted into both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Theater Hall of Fame.

"Emily and Roger shared a deep belief that the vitality of the American theatre depends on making space for bold voices, untold stories, and meaningful artistic risks," Rasmussen said. "That shared vision lives on through the Emily Mann Lab, McCarter’s new play development program."