Will Eno, Lynn Nottage Win First Horton Foote Prizes

Lynn Nottage’s Ruined and Will Eno’s Middletown have been named the inaugural recipients of the newly established Horton Foote Prizes for excellence in American Theater. The pieces were named Outstanding New American Play and Promising American New Play, respectively.

The writers will be honored at a private reception on Monday, September 20 at The Players in New York City. Each playwright will be presented with $15,000 and a limited edition of Keith Carter’s photograph of Foote, who passed away at age 92.

Ruined was nominated by Manhattan Theatre Club, which presented the play in 2009 after its premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Middletown was nominated by the Vineyard Theatre, which will present the play this fall.

A total of 54 resident theatres throughout the country, all with a strong history for producing new work, were invited to submit a produced or unproduced play for consideration.

This year’s judges, who were selected by the late playwright, were André Bishop (Lincoln Center Theater), James Houghton (Signature Theatre), Andrew Leynse (Primary Stages), and Michael Wilson (Hartford Stage). The judges’ theaters were exempt from the selection process.

The Horton Foote Prizes are funded by the Greg and Mari Marchbanks Family Foundation and will be presented biennially.