Lilly Awards

The Lilly Awards are an American awards ceremony recognizing extraordinary women in theatre. An annual celebration is held in New York to honor female writers, composers, directors, designers, producers and advocates. Some men have also been awarded the Miss Lilly, a prize in recognition of their advocacy for women in a male-dominated industry. Named after Lillian Hellman, the Lilly Awards were founded in 2010 by the playwrights Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Theresa Rebeck. Marsha Norman is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony-award winning playwright, whose work includes the book of the musical The Color Purple and book and lyrics of The Secret Garden.[1]

Lilly Award
Awarded forExcellence for Women in Theatre, including Playwrights, Actors, Designers, Producers and Others
CountryUnited States
Presented byThe Lilly Award Foundation
First awarded2010
Websitehttp://www.thelillyawards.org/

The Lillys promote the work of women in theatre by partnering with the Dramatists Guild to produce The Count, the first study of its kind to measure the data of the theatre industry and investigate the lack of gender parity in American theatre. Between 2011-2014, in a study sampling 2,508 productions in American theatres, only 22% of the plays and musicals produced in America were written by women.[2]

By 2018, there have been a few notable attempts to draw the attention of theatres to the work of American female playwrights, including LA-based group, The Kilroys, who founded an annual industry-based survey of excellent female and trans playwrights' work in 2013.

Previous Lilly Award winners include Annie Baker, who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play The Flick, Lynn Nottage, who won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Sweat, Martyna Majok, who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for her play Cost of Living, and Jeanine Tesori, who is the most recognised female composer in history with five Broadway musicals and five Tony Award Nominations, including the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home.[3]

Feminism at the Lillys

Many of Broadway and Off-Broadway's leading actors have given speeches at the Lilly Awards highlighting the experiences of women working in the male-dominated theatre. These speeches often acknowledge the forces of misogyny, racism and patriarchy, while encouraging the mission of the Lillys to highlight women in theatre. Presenters at the Lillys have included:

In a speech at the 8th annual Lilly Awards ceremony, playwright Sarah Ruhl said:

"I want to thank all of you and celebrate the work of other women in the theatre this year—you’ve inspired me, you’ve lit the way. And I have faith—there will come a time when the public humiliation that every artist must endure will be spread out equally over both genders, and will be leveled equally by both genders. And if that kind of equity does not in itself seem something to celebrate, let’s celebrate how we get there—by invoking our mothers, by refusing to shut up, and by making our own fun."[4]

At the 2018 Lilly Awards, after being recognized with the "You've Changed The World" Award, playwright Eve Ensler said:

"I hope it will be a lot easier for you than it was for me and women of my generation, but racist patriarchy is a persistent and devious system of oppression. It is far more tenacious and relentless than I had imagined.

There are many things that will drive you mad as women playwrights. Plays that get diminished by being called a woman’s play, as if that’s an insult. We never call male driven plays, men’s plays. We call them plays. Because men are still seen as the drivers of the world. When I wrote The Vagina Monologues, journalists were constantly asking me with a kind of pity, how I felt that only women come to my show. I would say, “Only women? You mean 51% of the population? Thank you, women.”

They will tell you your work isn’t commercial and that is code for, “isn’t written by a white man,” or “pure entertainment.” And to be honest, no one really has a bloody idea what will become commercial—meaning what play will attract a large audience. It has to do with timing, the political and cultural climate, and tapping into an invisible zeitgeist. I can’t tell you how many times I was told no one would come to see a play about vaginas, that it was professional suicide, that I would be marginalized and exiled."[5]

Broadway Cabaret

The Lilly Awards hosts a Broadway Cabaret, a 24 Hour Plays event,[6] and occasionally, 24 Hour Musicals.

Recent Award Recipients

DatePrizeWinnerDiscipline
2020Lifetime Achievement AwardEmily MannDirector
2020The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write A Play' AwardAntoinette NwanduPlaywright
2020The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write A Musical' AwardKirsten ChildsPlaywright, Composer, Lyricist
2020The Stacey Mindich 'Go Work in Theater' AwardWhitney White, Jillian Walker, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Stacey Rose, and Nikkole SalterVarious
2020NYWF Director's Apprenticeship AwardMelissa CrespoDirector
2020Lilly AwardNatyna Bean and Stevie Walker-WebbPlaywright and Director
2020Miss Lilly AwardTom KirdahyProducer
2020Daryl Roth Creative Spirit AwardSarita P. FellowsCostume Designer
2020Williamstown Theatre Festival CommissionErika Dickerson-DespenzaPlaywright
2019The "Badass Saint of Theatre" AwardLaTanya Richardson JacksonActor
2019Lilly AwardGlenda May Jackson CBEActor and British Under-Secretary of State for Transport
2019The "Ace in the Hole" AwardJayne HoudyshellActor
2019Williamstown Theatre Festival CommissionDawn LandesSinger-songwriter
2019The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write a Musical' AwardMasi AsarePlaywright, Composer, Lyricist
2019The 'Thank God You Got Us All Started, and Then Kept Us Going' AwardGretchen Cryer and Nancy FordComposer and Lyricist
2019The Daryl Roth Creative Spirit AwardYou-Shin ChenScenic designer
2019The Daryl Roth/Atlantic Theater Technical ApprenticesJasmine Lesane and Taylor LillyLighting Designers
2019NYWF Director's ApprenticeshipVictoria DavidjohnDirector
2019Leah Ryan's FEWW AwardEliana PipesPlaywright
2019The 'Aubergine is a F***ing Masterpiece' AwardJulia ChoPlaywright
2019The 'Because You've Deserved It For Ages and We've Been Planning This All Along' AwardConstance CongdonPlaywright and Librettist
2019The 'Aubergine is a F***ing Masterpiece' AwardJulia ChoPlaywright
2019The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write A Play' AwardMadeleine GeorgePlaywright
2019The Miss Lilly AwardOliver ButlerDirector
2018Mixed Martial Arts AwardMonica Bill Barnes and Anna BassPerformers
2018You’ve Changed the World AwardEve EnslerPlaywright
2018F It, I’m Going to Say It AwardLori MyersActor
2018Williamstown Theatre Festival ‘With The Females’ AwardJocelyn BiohPlaywright
2018Leah Ryan PrizeGina FemiaPlaywright
2018Daryl Roth Creative Spirit AwardStacey DerosierDesigner
2018Producer of the Year AwardCarole RothmanProducer
2018The New York Women’s Foundation Directing Apprenticeship AwardAbigail Jean-BaptisteDirector
2018Mom of the Year AwardKelda RoysLawyer and politician
2018Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Play" AwardJen SilvermanPlaywright
2018Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Musical" AwardEmily Gardner Xu HallComposer
2018Lilly AwardHannah GadsbyComedian
2018Miss Lilly AwardRobert Saenz de Viteri, P. Carl, and Ralph Sevush
2017Legendary Lilly AwardJulie TaymorDirector
2017Giant in the Theatre AwardMandy GreenfieldProducer, Artistic Director
2017The Breakthrough Lilly AwardDenée Benton, Beanie Feldstein, and Madison FerrisActor
2017Mistress of Costume Design AwardToni-Leslie JamesDesigner
2017Leah Ryan PrizeSusan Soon He StantonPlaywright
2017Daryl Roth Creative Spirit AwardAri FultonDesigner
2017New York Women’s Foundation Directing Apprenticeship AwardJenny KoonsDirector
2017Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Play" AwardMartyna MajokPlaywright
2017Harper Lee AwardChristina AndersonPlaywright
2017Lifetime Achievement Lilly AwardMicki Grant
2017Miss Lilly AwardStephen Schwartz
2016The First International Lilly AwardWaking the Feminists (Ireland)Social activism[7]
2016Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Play" AwardRehana Lew MirzaPlaywright
2016Lilly Award in PlaywritingDanai GuriraPlaywright
2016Lilly Award in ActingJessie MuellerActor
2016Lilly Award in DirectingKate WhoriskeyDirector
2016Leah Ryan PrizeGemma MurphyPlaywright
2016Lilly Award in ActivismKathy NajimyActor & activist
2016Lilly Award in TrailblazingMia Katigbak[8]Actor
2015Legendary Lilly AwardChita RiveraActor
2015Lilly Composer AwardDiedre MurrayComposer
2015Lifetime Achievement AwardDaryl RothProducer
2015Lilly Award in PlaywritingLisa D'AmourPlaywright
2015Leah Ryan PrizeBoo KillebrewPlaywright
2015Lilly Award for Working MiraclesShakina NayfackActor, artistic director
2015Lilly Award in ActingQuincy Tyler BernstineActor
2015Miss Lilly AwardJim NicolaArtistic director
2015Mizz Lilly AwardLinda ChapmanArtistic director
2015Stacey Mindich "Go Write A Play" AwardHeidi SchreckPlaywright
2015Lilly Award in ChoreographyGraciela DanieleChoreographer
2015Lilly Award for Distinguished Service to PlaywrightsDeidre O'ConnellActor
2014Lorraine Hansberry AwardBillie AllenActor
2014Lilly Award in PlaywritingDominique MorisseauActor
2014Lilly Award in Lyric writingKristen Anderson-LopezLyricist
2014Lilly Award for ComposingJeanine TesoriComposer
2014Lilly Award for Music DirectionMary-Mitchell CampbellMusic director
2014Lilly Award for PerformanceKelli O'Hara, Johanna Day, Rebecca Naomi JonesActor
2014Lilly Award for ProducingSusan BernfieldProducer
2014Lilly Award for DirectingLiesl TommyDirector
2014Lilly Award for an AgentJoyce KetayAgent
2014Leah Ryan PrizeJen SilvermanPlaywright
2014Stacey Mindich "Go Write A Play" AwardNeena BeberPlaywright
2014Miss Lilly AwardTodd LondonArtistic director
2014Lifetime Achievement AwardWinnie HolzmanDramatist & screenwriter
2013Lilly Award CommissionTanya BarfieldPlaywright
2013Leah Ryan PrizeJiehae ParkPlaywright
2012Lifetime Achievement AwardTina HowePlaywright
2012Lilly Award for PlaywritingLeslye HeadlandPlaywright
2012Lilly Award for PlaywritingKatori HallPlaywright
2011Lilly Award for PlaywritingLynn NottagePlaywright
2011Lilly Award for PlaywritingLisa KronPlaywright
2011Lilly Award for PlaywritingAmy HerzogPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingMelissa James GibsonPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingLiz Duffy AdamsPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingDeborah Zoe LauferPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingChisa HutchinsonPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingLucy ThurberPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for Playwriting & DirectingYoung Jean LeePlaywright & Director
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingSarah RuhlPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for PlaywritingAnnie BakerPlaywright
2010Lilly Award for AdvocacyEmily MorseArtistic Director
2010Lilly Award for DesignChristine JonesDesigner
2010Lilly Award for DirectingAnne KauffmanDirector
2010Lifetime Achievement Lilly AwardMary RodgersComposer, author, screenwriter

References

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