Provincetown Theater Honors Playwrights Doug Wright, Michael R. Jackson, and Broadway Star Kelli O'Hara

The board and artistic director of the Provincetown Theater have announced the fourth annual Provincetown American Playwright Award will be presented during an intimate celebration at the historic Mary Heaton Vorse House on Saturday, August 14. Following previous recipients Terrence McNally, Paula Vogel and Charles Busch, the honoree of the 2021 PAPA will be Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Doug Wright. Established in 2018 to honor Provincetown's theatrical legacy as the Birthplace of Modern American Drama, the PAPA is given to a writer who has enriched and expanded the depth and scope of the American experience on the world stage.

In addition this year, the Provincetown Theater is inaugurating two brand new awards: the Provincetown Theater Trailblazer Award and the Provincetown Theater Icon Award.

The Trailblazer Award will honor an artist who has pioneered new paths on the American stage, and will be given to Michael R. Jackson, who created the book, music and lyrics to the groundbreaking musical A Strange Loop, recipient of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize.

The Provincetown Theater Icon Award will honor a performer whose talent has carved indelible marks in originating characters in new stage works while also reinvigorating beloved characters from the classics for a new generation. There is no one more fitting to inaugurate the Icon Award than the Tony Award-winning star of such Broadway productions as The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, and The King and I, Kelli O'Hara. On the evening following the awards celebration, Kelli will make her Provincetown concert debut on Sunday, Aug. 15th at 6:30pm in Mark Cortale's BROADWAY @ TOWN HALL concert series hosted and music directed by Seth Rudetsky. This concert will help raise fund for Sandy Hook Promise. For more information please visit www.ptownarthouse.co

The 2021 PAPA, Trailblazer and Icon Award recipients will receive their honors in-person at an intimate supper ceremony (for 50 guests) at the historic Mary Heaton Vorse House, hosted by the renowned interior designer Ken Fulk and his partner Kurt Wootton on Saturday, August 14. The sit-down dinner, paired with wines, includes a 5-course meal and dessert by Chef Liam Lutrell-Rowland. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at 6pm, the outdoor supper-under-the-stars begins at 8pm.

Tickets for the benefit dinner can be purchased at bit.ly/PAPATix2021.

A not-for-profit 501c3, proceeds from the PAPA gala benefit programming for the Provincetown Theater (238 Bradford Street), the only year-round performing arts institution in Provincetown, MA.