Esper, Foote, Kazan, and Rasche to Receive Equity Awards

Michael Esper and Zoe Kazan will receive Actors’ Equity Foundation’s annual Clarence Derwent Awards, while Hallie Foote and David Rasche will receive Equity’s annual Richard Seff Awards. The presentation of the awards will take place at Equity’s Eastern Regional Board meeting on June 10.

Esper starred this season in Crazy Mary at Playwrights Horizons, for which he was honored, as well as The Four of Us at Manhattan Theatre Club, and the world premiere of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself and I at the McCarter Theatre. Kazan made her Broadway debut in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Come Back, Little Sheba, and also appeared in The New Group’s Things We Want and Playwrights Horizons’ 100 Saints You Should Know earlier in the season.

Foote was honored for her performance in her father Horton Foote’s play Dividing the Estate, which was presented by Primary Stages and will transfer to Broadway in the fall. Rasche was honored for his work in Classic Stage Company’s production of The Seagull.

The Clarence Derwent Award honors “the most promising female and male performers on the New York metropolitan scene,” and includes $2,000 and an engraved crystal trophy. The Richard Seff Award honors “a female and male character actor, 50 years of age or older, for the best performance in a supporting role in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production,” and includes $1,000 plus a crystal trophy.