Provincetown Theater Honors Terrence McNally with its First Provincetown American Playwright Award

On Friday, July 20th the board of the Provincetown Theater Foundation and their new artistic director, Obie Award winner David Drake, will present the first annual Provincetown American Playwright Award to Terrence McNally, the four-time Tony Award-winning playwright of such iconic plays and musicals as Master Class, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Full Monty, Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and this summer's Cape Cod premiere of his masterpiece Love! Valour! Compassion! at the Provincetown Theater.

Created to recognize a great, living American playwright, Mr. McNally says, "I am honored beyond all measure to be the recipient of the first PAPA award. Since I turn 80 in November, maybe you want to make it the GRANPAPA award? I won't mind." And while Mr. McNally acknowledges that he hasn't spent a lot of time in Provincetown, "the few days I have roamed its fabled streets," he says, "have all been memorable. I felt the ghosts of our theatrical ancestors everywhere I went and I didn't even have to go looking for them: they just kept popping up. I know one thing: I wouldn't be a playwright if they hadn't come first and Provincetown is such a vital part of their story."

The P.A.P.A. ceremony on July 20th will be an intimate affair. Hosted by Ken Fulk at his home on the water, some 50 benefit attendees will enjoy a sunset supper and celebration with Mr. McNally and his husband, Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy. David Drake, director of Love! Valour! Compassion!, along with his cast will present Mr. McNally with 2018's inaugural P.A.P.A.. As a major fundraiser for the Provincetown Theater, purchasing tickets, and more information can be found at provincetowntheater.org.

Love! Valour! Compassion! performs Mondays through Thursdays at 7:30pm from July 16th through August 30th at the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St, Provincetown, MA 02657. Tickets are $40, and can be obtained at provincetowntheater.org, or by calling the box office at 508.487.7487. Tickets can also be purchased in-person at our new Downtown Community Box Office at 230 Commercial Street, open daily from 12noon - 8pm.

Winner of the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, and New York Drama Critics' Circle awards for Best Play of 1995, McNally's story of friendship, loyalty, lust and love, centers on an intergenerational group of gay men who gather over the course of one summer in a turn-of-the-century farmhouse in Duchess County, New York. By turns hilarious, sexy, and moving, their journey together allows each man to claim a deeper depth of love, valour, and compassion for themselves, for one another, and for the unknown road ahead.

For adults only, the production includes frank language and nudity.

With a history rooted in the original Provincetown Players of 1916, the Provincetown Theater is owned and managed by the Provincetown Theater Foundation (PTF). Sponsorship for the 2018 season is due, in large part, to the generous support of WOMR, 102.3 Dunes FM Radio, East End Market, Victor's, Scott Allegretti, Hook, the Provincetown Tourism Fund, the Schoolman Trust, the Palette Fund, and in partnership with Provincetown Magazine.

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