The Dramatists Guild Foundation has announced Tony and Grammy Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames as the newest members on their Board of Directors. The two prolific playwrights will help further the organization's mission to support theatre writers at all stages of their careers.
Both Ijames and Hwang have extensive experience in working and collaborating with fellow writers and directors, and both are also currently professors at universities, guiding the next generation of theatremakers.
Hwang's previous works include M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, FOB, Soft Power, and more. His works have earned him a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and three OBIE Awards. Hwang is also a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. He currently serves as a professor at Columbia University and a Chair on the American Theatre Wing, and recently had a star in his name unveiled on the Lucille Lortel Playwrights Sidewalk.
Ijames' plays have been produced by a vast number of theatre companies, including Wilma Theatre, The National Black Theatre, The Public Theater, and Steppenwolf Theatre; and Ijames has developed his works with PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark, Playwright's Horizon, and many more. He is also a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia’s first playwright producing collective. His acclaimed play Fat Ham received the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Play. He currently serves as Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University.
The Dramatists Guild Board of Directors is composed of dramatists, theatre industry producing and marketing professionals, and artistic philanthropists. Ijames and Hwang join President Andrew Lippa, Vice President Kevin Hager, Secretary Michael Gordon, Treasurer Susan Laubach, President Emeritus Gretchen Cryer, C. Graham Berwind, III, Elizabeth Dewberry, Gary DiCenzo, Louise Evins, Eleni Gianulis-Vermeer, Roe Green, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Donald J. Loftus, Barbara Olcott, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Peter Ratray, and Doug Wright.
For more information, visit DGF.org.
