The Dramatists Guild Foundation Honors Bess Wohl With First-Ever Georgia Engel Comedy Playwriting Prize
7/29/2020 3:29pm
Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) will honor the life and legacy of actress and comedian Georgia Engel with a new namesake Award for a playwright in comedy. The inaugural recipient is Bess Wohl. The creation of the Georgia Engel Comedy Playwriting Prize was spearheaded by Georgia’s close friends, writer/producer Phil Rosenthal and actress Monica Horan Rosenthal (Rosenthal Family Foundation), producer Dori Berinstein, and actor John Quilty (the Founding Committee). The $10,000 Award will be given annually to a playwright in honor of their work in comedy. The honoree will be chosen by the founding committee, industry leaders, and Dramatist Guild playwriting colleagues. As announced earlier this year, Khiyon Hursey receives the 2020 Stephen Schwartz Award, and Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Julia Meinwald, and Benjamin Velez are co-recipients of the 2020 Thom Thomas Award. This year’s Dramatists Guild Awards went to Michael R Jackson, recipient of the Hull-Warriner Award and the Frederick Loewe Award for his musical A Strange Loop; Kia Corthron, recipient of the Flora Roberts Award; Lydia Diamond, recipient of the Horton Foote Playwriting Award; and Madhuri Shekar, recipient of the Lanford Wilson Award. The Lilly Awards also honored Antoinette Nwandu with the Stacey Mindich Go Write a Play Award; Kirsten Childs with the Stacey Mindich Go Write a Musical Award; Danetta Lavinia Grays, Stacey Rose, Whitney White, and Jillian Walker with the Stacey Mindich Go Work in Theater Award; Sarita Fellows with the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, Melissa Crespo with the NYWF Director Award; Stevie Walker-Webb with the Award in Honor of Lorraine Hansberry; Tom Kirdahy with the Miss Lilly Award; and Emily Mann with the Lillys Lifetime Achievement Award. For more information on how to support theater writers, visit DGF.org. Press contact: Alyson Ahrns/Dramatists Guild Foundation (alyson@dgf.org)...