M. Elizabeth Osborn

Osborn received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1970s, she was an Assistant Professor of Theatre at St. Mary's College of Maryland. While on leave she was accepted as a student of directing in the Virginia Museum Theater Conservatory. From that base, she helped to pioneer the resident professional theater movement in Richmond, where she served as a “Dramaturg"—at the time a relatively new position in American regional theatre—of the Repertory Company of the Virginia Museum Theater (VMT).[2]

Osborn not only composed and published program notes for VMT shows[3] but exercised a strong advisory influence on the selection of the theater’s repertoire. She took the lead in organizing the literary and conservatory operations of the company, including the direction and co-direction of conservatory shows. At the end of the decade she took the post of associate artistic director of the American Revels Company (Revels), also in Richmond. With director Keith Fowler she aided in the administration of Revels, shared responsibility for the company's focus on bringing the black and white communities of Richmond together in a "unity audience," and also served as the company’s unofficial dramaturg.

Her literary prowess earned her the direction of major productions. She staged Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (1978) and, consistent with her career-long encouragement of new plays, she mounted the Revels' premiere of Kevin Heelan's Hope I hear it Again (1979). In 1979, her own poetic drama of America's wars, Ashes of Soldiers, received its world premiere by Revels, with Osborn co-directing and acting in the ensemble.

Colleagues recall that in her directorial work in the Virginia theaters she was always a generous and even-handed leader. She is remembered for the supportive artistic and intellectual guidance she offered her actors.[4]

The Osborn Award, a plaque shown here for Jason Wells, 2010 winner

The M. Elizabeth Osborn Award was established in 1993 by the American Theater Critics Association (ATCA) to honor Osborn's memory by continuing her mission of recognizing outstanding but little known authors. Colleagues recall how she would politely but persistently urge producers to mount productions of untried authors.[9]

Her record as a supporter of new writers has been extended for years to come by the creation of the prestigious award. The prize includes a monetary grant. The "Osborn" is conferred on a new American playwright at the Humana Festival of New American Plays held each year at the Actors Theater of Louisville.[10]

Seattle-based playwright Keri Healey was the 2013 Osborn Award winner, honored for her play Torso.[10] Darren Canady, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas (KU), received the award in 2012 for his play about rural African-American life, Brothers of the Dust.[10] [11] Among other Osborn laureates are Rebecca Gilman,[10] Los Angeles author Dan O'Brien,[10] and Brooklyn playwright J.T. Rogers.[10]

M. Elizabeth Osborn wrote or edited the following books:

• Osborn, M. Elizabeth (Editor), The Way We Live Now: American Plays and the AIDS Crisis, plays by Terrence McNally, Tony Kushner, Christopher Durang, Lanford Wilson, Susan Sontag, Harry Kondoleon, David Greenspan, and Paula Vogel. Paperback, 304 pages, Published January 1, 1990 by Theatre Communications Group, ISBN 1559360054, literary awards Lambda Literary Foundation Award for AIDS (1990)
• Osborn (Author), On New Ground: contemporary Hispanic-American plays, Paperback, 288 pages, Published December 1, 1987 by Theatre Communications Group ISBN 0930452682
• Osborn (Author), John Hirsch at Yale, Duke University Press, doi: 10.1215/01610775-21-1_and_2-120 Theater 1990 Volume 21, Number 1
• Osborn (Author), Dramatists Sourcebook, 1986-87, Theatre Communications Group, December 1986, ISBN 9780930452575