The yearly celebration of women in theater will be held at Playwrights Horizons.
Tony Award winner Sarah Jones (Bridge & Tunnel, Sell/Buy/Date) will host the eighth annual Lilly Awards on Monday, May 22, at Playwrights Horizons. This year's honorees will be announced soon.
The Lilly Awards honors the extraordinary contributions made to the American Theater by women. Founded by Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Theresa Rebeck, the awards are named for Lillian Hellman, a pioneering American playwright who famously said, "You need to write like the devil and act like one too when necessary."
Previous recipients of the Lilly Award include Gloria Steinem, Jessie Mueller, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o and the women of Eclipsed, Mary Rodgers, Dominique Morisseau, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Jeanine Tesori, Liesl Tommy, Kelli O’Hara, Pam MacKinnon, Leigh Silverman, Anne Kauffman, Sarah Ruhl, Kathy Najimy, Kristin Chenoweth, Annie Baker, Susan Stroman, Lynn Ahrens, Tina Fallon, Amy Herzog, Nina Arianda, Diane Paulus, Katori Hall, Tina Howe, Estelle Parsons, Lynne Meadow, Ntozake Shange, Jessica Hecht, Lois Smith, and more.
Jones is a Tony- and Obie Award-winning playwright and performer, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and humanitarian activist. She's best known for her multicharacter one-person shows, including Bridge & Tunnel (Special Tony Award winner) and Sell/Buy/Date, which premiered off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club earlier this season.