Gordon, Guettel, LaChiusa, McDonald, et al. Will Receive Awards From Virginia’s Signature Theatre

A $1 million grant from the Shen Family Foundation to the Signature Theatre Company in Arlington, Virginia will be used to launch The American Musical Voices Project, which will bestow cash awards on composers Ricky Ian Gordon, Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChiusa, and Joseph Thalken, singer Audra McDonald, orchestrator Bruce Coughlin, and director-musical director-orchestrator Ted Sperling.

Gordon, LaChiusa, and Thalken will each receive Musical Theatre Composer Grants, consisting of $25,000 per year for the next four years, for the creation, development, and production of their new works. During the 2007-2008 season, Signature will present a workshop of a new musical by LaChiusa and a cabaret featuring the works of all three composers; the following season, it will offer a full production of LaChiusa’s musical and a workshop production of Thalken’s piece. In 2008-2009, Signature will present a workshop of Gordon’s musical and full production of Thalken’s musical. In 2009-2010, the company will present a full production of Gordon’s musical.

The American Musical Voices Leadership Awards will be presented to Coughlin, Guettel, McDonald, and Sperling on Monday, May 15 at New World Stages in New York City. Each winner is being honored for his or her “extraordinary influence on and contribution to the the advancement of new musical theater,” and each will receive $25,000. The awards ceremony will feature performances by McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Howard McGillin.

Signature will use $250,000 of the grant money for its capital campaign to support its new theater complex in the Village at Shirlington and to nurture the company’s artistic and organizational expansion. In recognition of the gift, the large rehearsal room in the new building will be named in honor of The Shen Family Foundation.