Danai Gurira, Martha Plimpton & More Will be Honored at 7th Annual Lilly Awards

The 7th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which celebrates women of distinction in the American Theater, will this year honor playwright Danai Gurira, actor Martha Plimpton, director Kate Whoriskey, actor Mia Katigbak, and more to be announced. The Lilly Awards will be presented Monday, May 23, at the Signature Theatre (480 West 42nd St).

The Lilly Awards will honor the extraordinary contributions made to the American Theater by women, as well as announce the $25,000 Stacey Mindich Prize, which funds a new work by a female playwright, and the Leah Ryan Prize, which awards an annual cash prize to an emerging woman playwright and produces a reading of the winning play in New York City.

To reserve tickets to the event, please click here: bit.ly/7thLillys. After party to follow, sponsored by Dramatists Play Service and The Interval.

The Lilly Awards were started in the Spring of 2010 as a way to honor the work of women in the American Theater. The founders of The Lillys are 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 winners who have received the Lilly Award include Mary Rodgers, Dominique Morisseau, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Jeanine Tesori, Liesl Tommy, Kelli O'Hara, Pam MacKinnon, Leigh Silverman, Anne Kauffman, Sarah Ruhl, 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, and Lois Smith.

For additional information about the Lilly Awards (including a list of all past recipients), visit www.thelillyawards.org.

Photo Credit: Gurira by Walter McBride; Plimpton by Jennifer Broski