The Dramatists Guild Fund Receives 2013 Ellen Stewart Award

On Monday, July 30, 2013, The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (IT Awards), the organization dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, announced the 2013 award recipients at the ninth Annual IT Awards Ceremony at Mason Hall at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York. The Dramatists Guild Fund was awarded the 2013 Ellen Stewart Award, presented to an individual or organization demonstrating a significant contribution to the Off-Off-Broadway community through service, support and leadership. Playwright Tina Howe presented the award to both Gretchen Cryer, President of the Dramatists Guild Fund, and Rachel Routh, Executive Director of the Dramatists Guild Fund.

"We are so honored to receive this year's Ellen Stewart Award for Stewardship," states Dramatists Guild Fund Executive Director Rachel Routh. "For over 50 years, the Dramatists Guild Fund's mission has been to nurture and support writers at all stages of their careers, and this award puts the spotlight not only on our work but the fundamental truth that the future of theater depends on the endurance of its writers."

On October 21, the Dramatists Guild Fund will host their Annual Gala at the Edison Ballroom. This year's event, hosted by Michael Urie, will honor legendary playwrights, composers, and lyricists who have greatly impacted the American theater. The evening will feature legendary theater elite and the stars who have brought their works to life on stage including Stephen Sondheim with Bernadette Peters, Stephen Schwartz with Ben Vereen, Michael John LaChiusa with Toni Collette, George C. Wolfe with Tonya Pinkins, Alan Menken with Jeremy Jordan, Andrew Lippa with Norbert Leo Butz, Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty with Marin Mazzie, Theresa Rebeck with Julie White, Marsha Norman & Jason Robert Brown with Steven Pasquale and Kelli O'Hara, John Guare with Elizabeth Marvel, and Adam Guettel with Kelli O'Hara. Patrons of the arts Roe Green, Founder and CEO of Roe Green Foundation, and Don Loftus, President of Parlux LTD will also be honored for their commitment to and support of the American theater.

The Dramatists Guild Fund is the public charity arm of the Dramatists Guild of America. Its mission is to aid and nurture writers for the theater; to fund non-profit theaters producing contemporary American works; and to heighten awareness, appreciation, and support of theater across the country. The Dramatists Guild Fund depends heavily on individual contributions from theater enthusiasts across the country in order to carry out its mission. Each year, the Fund provides grants to non-profit theatrical organizations across the country that produce works by American writers. A limited number of grants are also allotted to deserving writers for the theater who have fallen upon hard times due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances. In January of 2008, the Dramatists Guild Fund was re-classified as a 501(c)3 public charity, enabling it to expand its reach through new initiatives such as The Legacy Project, the Traveling Masters program, and the preservation the Dramatists Guild Archives.

Based in New York, the Dramatists Guild of America has a long history of service to playwrights, lyricists, librettists and composers for the theater. Since its inception, the Dramatists Guild membership has included a broad cross-section of writers for the American stage, including legendary talents whose names are synonymous with Broadway, Off-Broadway and American Theater. To learn more about the Guild or to become a member, visit www.dramatistsguild.com.

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