The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell S. Bernard, Trustee) in
association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic
Director) announced today that Peter Mills has been awarded the third annual
Fred Ebb Award.
The invitation only award presentation and cocktail
reception will take place on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at The
American Airlines Theatre's Penthouse Lounge (227 West 42nd Street). Five-time Tony Award nominee Scott Ellis will
present Mr. Mills with his award. The
award is named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb who passed
away in September 2004.
Peter Mills received 2005 Drama Desk Award nominations for
his show The Pursuit Of Persephone
(Best Music and Best Orchestrations), the 2003 Richard Rodgers New Horizons
Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and received a 2002 grant from the Jonathan
Larson Performing Arts Foundation. Most
recently, he wrote music and lyrics for The
Rockae, a rock musical based on The Bacchae.
Other recent projects include lyrics for Iron
Curtain (music by Stephen Weiner, book by Susan DiLallo), and music and
lyrics for The Alchemists, Illyria (a musical adaptation of Twelfth
Night, which had its regional premiere at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
in Fall 2004, with a cast album released in April 2005) and The Taxi Cabaret (published by Samuel
French in Fall 2004). With Cara Reichel,
he wrote The Flood, which was
selected for the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop (2001). Marco Polo, written with composer Deborah Abramson, was selected
for the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop in 2000, and Peter and Deborah were chosen
as 2000-01 Dramatists Guild Fellows.
Peter holds an M.F.A. in Musical Theater Writing from New York University's
Tisch School
for the Arts and a degree in English/Dramatic Literature from Princeton University.
He is a founding member of Prospect Theater Company.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theatre
songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved
significant commercial success. The award is meant to encourage and support
aspiring songwriters to create new works for the musical theatre. The prize
includes a $50,000 award. The Fred Ebb
Foundation is funded by royalties from Mr. Ebb's vast catalogue of work. The selection panel includes Foundation Trustee,
Mitchell S. Bernard, Sheldon Harnick, David Loud, Tim Pinckney, Arthur Whitelaw
and Karen Ziemba.
For more information, please visit www.fredebbfoundation.org.