The Lilly Awards celebrate women in theatre May 22 at Playwrights Horizons. Among the evening’s honorees are Julie Taymor, Denée Benton, Micki Grant, Toni-Leslie James, Mandy Greenfield, Madison Ferris, and Beanie Feldstein. Composer Stephen Schwartz is this year’s Miss Lilly recipient.
The 8th annual awards are hosted by Tony-winning playwright and performer Sarah Jones. Cynthia Nixon, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and David Henry Hwang are presenters at the ceremony.
The Lilly Awards were founded in 2010 by Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman, and Theresa Rebeck with a mission to honor and recognize women's achievements in the world of theatre. In addition to awarding annual prizes, the Awards created The National Count, the largest study of the programming choices of non-profit theatres.
The awards are named after playwright Lillian Hellman, whose play The Little Foxes is currently being revived on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Previous Lilly Award winners include Gloria Steinem, Jessie Mueller, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o and the women of Eclipsed, Mary Rodgers, Dominique Morisseau, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Jeanine Tesori, Liesl Tommy, Kelli O’Hara, Pam MacKinnon, Leigh Silverman, Anne Kauffman, Sarah Ruhl, Kathy Najimy, Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Baker, Susan Stroman, Lynn Ahrens, Tina Fallon, Amy Herzog, Nina Arianda, Diane Paulus, Katori Hall, Tina Howe, Estelle Parsons, Lynne Meadow, Ntozake Shange, Jessica Hecht, and Lois Smith.
Scroll through photos of last year’s awards featuring Mueller, Nyong’o, Najimy, and more.
(Updated May 22, 2017)
For more information, visit TheLillyAwards.org.
