The Dramatists Guild of America has named Michael R. Jackson the recipient of the Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition for his A Strange Loop score. The semi-autobiographical musical, seen last year in a world premiere from Playwrights Horizons and Page 73, is the winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Inspired by Jackson's own experiences, A Strange Loop follows a young artist at war with a host of demons—not least of which are the punishing thoughts in his own head—in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop.
READ: Michael R. Jackson Breaks Down His A Strange Loop Score
Directed by Stephen Brackett with choreography by Raja Feather Kelly, A Strange Loop played an acclaimed, extended run at Playwrights May 24–July 7, 2019. In addition to the Pulitzer, the musical was named the Best Musical of the 2019–2020 season by the New York Drama Critics Circle and was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical (winning two Lucille Lortel Awards for actors Larry Owens and John-Andrew Morrison). The production also earned six Drama Desk Award nominations (the winners will be announced June 13).
The Frederick Loewe Award is presented by the Frederick Loewe Foundation and the Dramatists Guild. Past winners include Matthew Sklar, Kirsten Childs, David Yazbek, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Jeanine Tesori, among others.
