Photo Coverage: Shaina Taub Is Presented with 2017 Fred Ebb Award

The Fred Ebb Foundation, in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company, just presented the 13th annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Shaina Taub.

The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, was presented by Brian Stokes Mitchell last night in the Penthouse Lounge of The American Airlines Theater.

The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success. The award is meant to encourage and support aspiring songwriters to create new works for the musical theatre. The prize includes a $60,000 award. In addition to the monetary prize, the Fred Ebb Foundation will produce a one-night-only showcase of the winner's work. The Fred Ebb Foundation is funded by royalties from Mr. Ebb's vast catalogue of work.

Shaina Taub is a Vermont-raised, New York-based songwriter and performer. She is the winner of the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award, a Jonathan Larson Grant and the ASCAP Foundation Lucille and Jack Yellen Award. A former composer-in-residence at Ars Nova, Taub made her Lincoln Center solo debut in their 2015 American Songbook series, and she's currently an artist-in-residence at Joe's Pub where she performs a monthly concert. Her original musical adaptations of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and As You Like It were commissioned by The Public Theater and produced at the Delacorte in Central Park the past two summers as part of their groundbreaking Public Works initiative. She wrote songs for and starred in Bill Irwin and David Shiner's Old Hats, directed by Tina Landau at the Signature Theatre. Her songs have been performed by Audra McDonald at Carnegie Hall and Sutton Foster at Lincoln Center, and she wrote the theme song for Julie Andrews' Netflix series "Julie's Greenroom," performed on the show by Sara Bareilles, as well as several songs for "Sesame Street." She has received fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo and The Sundance Institute. She's currently writing a new musical about Alice Paul and the American women's suffrage movement. Her album Visitors is available at shainataub.com.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

Shaina Taub

Shaina Taub

Shaina Taub

Shaina Taub and friends

Nikki M. James

Nikki M. James

Grace McLean

Grace McLean

Alice Ripley

Alice Ripley

Emily Skinner

Emily Skinner

Dee Hoty

Dee Hoty

Michael McCormick

Michael McCormick

Debra Monk

Debra Monk

Brian Stokes Mitchell, John Kander

Rachel Chavkin

Rachel Chavkin

Rachel Chavkin, Grace McLean

Sam Willmott

Sam Willmott