Photos: Dramatists Guild Awards Honor David Henry Hwang, Shaina Taub and More

 Last night, the Dramatists Guild of America honored the recipients of their 2025 Awards with a ceremony at Green Fig at which playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists celebrated their fellow theatre writers.

Amanda Green, President of the Dramatists Guild Council, hosted the event, which featured musical numbers, moving speeches, and many powerful moments of solidarity and community.

The first award of the evening was the Horton Foote Award, presented by DG Council Vice-President Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Sponsored by the Richenthal Foundation, the Horton Foote Award honors a dramatist or dramatists whose work seeks to plumb the ineffable nature of being human. This year’s co-recipients were Clarence Coo and C.A. Johnson.

Next, Andre Bishop presented the Flora Roberts Award to playwright Peter Parnell. The Flora Roberts Award, administered by the Dramatists Guild Foundation, is presented to a dramatist in recognition of distinguished work in the theatre and to encourage the continuation of that work. 

Amanda Green and Kirsten Childs, both previous recipients of the Frederick Loewe Award, presented this year’s award to Shaina Taub.  The Frederick Loewe Award is funded by the Frederick Loewe Foundation and presented annually by the Dramatists Guild Council to a composer recognizing achievement in a theatrical score presented On or Off-Broadway during the previous theatrical season. After receiving the award, Shaina performed “Still Marching,” from her Tony-winning score for Suffs.  

The next award presented was the Hull-Warriner Award, presented by the DG Awards Committee co-chair, Samuel D. Hunter.  The Hull-Warriner Award is presented annually by the Dramatists Guild Council to an author or team of authors in recognition of their play dealing with controversial subjects involving the fields of political, religious, or social mores of the times. This year’s Hull-Warriner Award was presented to Itamar Moses for The Ally.

The finalists for this year’s Hull-Warriner Award were Will Aronson and Hue Park for Maybe Happy Ending; Leslye Headland for Cult of Love; Amy Herzog for An Enemy of the People; Ife Olujobi for Jordans; and Paula Vogel for Mother Play.

Kristoffer Diaz, the Dramatists Guild Council’s Secretary, presented the Lanford Wilson Award to two playwrights – Morgan McGuire and Kristiana Rae Colon.  The award was established by the estate of Lanford Wilson and is presented by the Dramatists Guild Council to a dramatist based primarily on their work as an early career or “emerging” playwright. 

John Weidman, President of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, presented this year’s DLDF Defender Award to drama teacher Jereme Anglin, on behalf of the ArtQuest theatre program at Santa Rosa High School; Dean Jahnsen and Leila Paine, on behalf of their fellow students at Santa Rosa High School, who led a fight against the school's attempt to shut down their production of Dog Sees God and then helped create a new theatrical work, [REDACTED], to comment on their experience; Brent Lindsay, artistic director of The Imaginists theater company of Santa Rosa, who helped the students create [REDACTED], and The Mercury Theater of Petaluma, for providing a new home for Dog Sees God after performances were suspended at the high school."  The Dramatists Legal Defense Fund presents the Defender Award each year to recognize an individual, group, or organization’s efforts in support of free expression in the dramatic arts.  

The final award of the evening was the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Dramatists Guild Council’s Treasurer, Christine Toy Johnson, to playwright David Henry Hwang.  The Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by the Dramatists Guild Council in recognition of distinguished lifetime achievement in theatrical writing. Previous recipients include Edward Albee, Pearl Cleage, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Gretchen Cryer & Nancy Ford, Christopher Durang, Jules Feiffer, Horton Foote, Micki Grant, John Guare, A.R. Gurney, Sheldon Harnick & Jerry Bock, Tina Howe, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Adrienne Kennedy, Emily Mann, Terrence McNally, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon, Stephen Sondheim, Joseph Stein, Paula Vogel, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, and George C. Wolfe. Career Achievement Awards have also been presented to Marsha Norman and Stephen Schwartz.   

The celebratory evening ended with a performance by former Dramatists Guild Council President Stephen Schwartz.

As the professional trade association for playwrights, librettists, lyricists, and composers, the Dramatists Guild of America works to protect and advance the rights of all theatre writers across the country. With over 10,000 members around the world, the Guild is guided by a governing council of writers who each give their time, interest and support to advance the rights of dramatists everywhere, including the right for dramatists to own and control their own copyrighted work. The Guild’s advocacy, programs, events, publications, and other services provide dramatists with the resources, the community, and the support they require to protect their property, their livelihoods, and their unique voices in the American theatre.

The Dramatists Guild Legal Defense Fund (DLDF) advocates and educates on behalf of the right of free speech on stages across America. The DLDF advocates for more speech, not less, and believes that there should be discussion around why a theatrical work is complex instead of canceling a production. If your school show has been canceled, the DLDF can help you figure out your options for moving forward. The DLDF can find alternative spaces where students can perform canceled shows, send authors of canceled shows to the community for a panel discussion, send letters to schools and town officials encouraging them to remount canceled shows, find legal assistance for those who want to take the matter to court, and more.