Photos Coverage: Butler, D'Arcy James et al. at American Theatre Wing's Larson Grants

The American Theatre Wing Presented the 2010 Jonathan Larson® Grants on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at the American Airlines Theatre in New York City. This year, Peter Lerman, Daniel Maté, and songwriting team Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (book & lyrics) were selected to receive the prestigious grants, totaling $10,000. The evening included special performances of the recipients' work by Brian d'Arcy James and Kerry Butler. Brad Bass, John Eric Parker, and Ephraim Sykes from Memphis performed a rarely heard Jonathan Larson song. BroadwayWorld was there for the ceremony.

The grants, given annually to honor emerging composers, lyricists and book writers, help to continue Tony Award®-winning composer Jonathan Larson's dream of infusing musical theatre with a contemporary, joyful, urban vitality. This year's recipients were selected by an expert panel consisting of Robyn Goodman (Tony® Award-winning Producer, In the Heights), Tom Kitt (Tony® Award-winning Composer, Next to Normal), Kathleen Marshall (Tony® Award-winning Choreographer, The Pajama Game) and Stephen Schwartz (Tony® Award-winning Composer-lyricist, Wicked).

Dedicated to celebrating excellence and supporting theatre, the American Theatre Wing awards the Larson Grants to artists to recognize and showcase their work with no strings attached - except to put it to the best use possible to help further the artist's creative endeavors.

Past recipients of the Larson Grants include Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal), Chad Beguelin & Matthew Sklar (The Wedding Singer), John Bucchino (A Catered Affair), Laurence O'Keefe (Bat Boy: The Musical) and Michael Korie (Grey Gardens).

For more information on the American Theatre Wing, visit www.americantheatrewing.org, www.Facebook.com/TheAmericanTheatreWing and Twitter.com/TheWing.

Photo Credit: Brian Estrada