Lisa Kron To Host 2010 IT Awards, Wilson to receive the Artistic Achievement Award

Lisa Kron, actress and member of the Five Lesbian Brothers, returns to host the Sixth Annual New York Innovative Theatre Awards (the IT Awards), in a ceremony dedicated to celebrating Off-Off-Broadway. This will mark Kron?s second time hosting the ceremony, as she was the host in 2008. The ceremony will be directed by Tom Wojtunik, Artistic Director of the Astoria Performing Arts Center. Wojtunik brings an interesting perspective to the show and an awareness of the community having directed shows in every borough of the city.

The Sixth Annual IT Awards ceremony will be held on Monday, September 20, 2010 at 7 pm at Cooper Union?s Great Hall, located at 51 Astor Place. Tickets are on sale now for $25 in advance and are available at www.nyitawards.com ($30 at the door). If you are unable to attend, you can join the OOB theatre community's biggest night of the year online at www.nyitawards.com/live.

The Honorary Awards are presented to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the Off-Off-Broadway community and are selected each year by the Honorary Awards Committee which was co-chaired this year by Abby Marcus and Ben Hodges. A complete list of committee members is available on the IT Awards website at: www.nyitawards.com/aboutus/hac.asp.

? The 2010 Artistic Achievement Award, presented in recognition of significant artistic contributions.

Lanford Wilson began his career as a playwright in the early 1960s at the Caffe Cino in Greenwich Village. He is a Drama Critics? Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Obie Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright.

? The 2010 Stewardship Award, presented in recognition of significant contributions to the Off-Off-Broadway community through service, support and leadership.

Dixon Place is an organization dedicated exclusively to the development of new work, DP?s signature activity has always been new works and works-in-progress.

"Dixon Place never imagined receiving awards for what we love to do every day - so this is truly an honor to receive the Stewardship Award from the Innovative Theatre Awards! After nearly 25 years of helping artists present their original works and building a new home for them in which to develop their craft, we are ecstatic that we can continue to contribute to the community and the city by providing a safe haven and support system for innovative performance to thrive." -- Leslie Strongwater, Director of Programming

? The 2010 Caffe Cino Fellowship Award, presented to an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company that consistently produces outstanding work. This award also includes a grant to be used toward an Off-Off-Broadway production.

New York Neo-Futurists are an ensemble of dynamic writer/performer/directors who present the critically acclaimed, energetic show of original short plays, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind--a non-illusory collage of the comic and tragic, the political and personal, the visceral and experimental, while embracing chance, change, and chaos.

?The New York Neo-Futurists are elated to received the Caffe Cino Award and flattered to be recognized for our innovative work by the IT Awards. We are proud to call the New York independent theater community our home and honored to be in such auspicious company as previous winners of this award. We look forward to challenging ourselves and our audiences as we continue to create new and outstanding original work.? ? Rob Neill, Managing Director, NYNFDIXON PLACE (Stewardship Award), after starting Dixon Place (DP) as a salon in her Paris apartment in the summer of 1985, Executive Director Ellie Covan set up shop in her East Village living room on E. 1st Street the following year. In order to accommodate a growing audience, DP moved to a larger space on the Bowery in 1991. Increased programming, along with an expanding staff and audience, prompted another move in 1999 and they became the resident company at the Vineyard Theater?s 26th Street space. The tremendous success of this professional environment led to the decision to secure a permanent home. In late 2002, they purchased an industrial space on in Lower Manhattan. While constructing the new facility over 6 years, DP presented programs ?in exile? at over a dozen NYC venues including The Public Theater, PS 122, Lincoln Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Joyce Soho, University Settlement, and the South Street Seaport Museum.

As an organization dedicated exclusively to the development of new work, DP?s signature activity has always been new works and works-in-progress. Artists such as John Leguizamo, Lisa Kron and Blue Man Group presented their first shows at DP, and others like David Cale, Jane Comfort, Douglas Dunn, John Kelly, Deb Margolin, Peggy Shaw, Reno and Wallace Shawn have used DP as an incubator and a continuing artistic home.

Lisa Kron (Host) has been writing and performing theater, both solo and as a part of the Five Lesbian Brothers for over 20 years. In 2006 she trod the little known path from downtown lesbian theater artist to Broadway when her play, Well, premiered to critical acclaim at the Longacre Theater receiving 2 Tony Award nominations. She enjoyed representing her community on the Great White Way and is very happy to be back home in the downtown theater community. Her current play, In the Wake, was recently produced in LA and San Francisco and will be at The Public Theatre this Fall.

THE NEW YORK NEO-FUTURISTS (Caffe Cino) are an ensemble of dynamic writer/performer/directors who present the critically acclaimed, energetic show of original short plays, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind--a non-illusory collage of the comic and tragic, the political and personal, the visceral and experimental, while embracing chance, change, and chaos. Developing out of the format that has been a success in Chicago since 1988, the New York Neo-Futurists have roots in NYC from the mid 90?s. Since opening TML in New York, they have created over 1900 plays and continue to present new and vital work every weekend in the East Village. For more info: www.nynf.org

Lanford Wilson (Artistic Achievement Award) began his career as a playwright in the early 1960s at the Caffe Cino in Greenwich Village, writing one-act plays such as Ludlow Fair, Home Free!, and The Madness of Lady Bright. The Madness of Lady Bright is the longest running play ever to appear at the Caffe Cino, where it was performed over two hundred times. Wilson was subsequently invited to present his work at Cafe LaMama including The Rimers of Eldritch and the Off-Broadway production of Balm in Gilead

Wilson is a founding member of The Circle Repertory Company in 1969. Many of his plays were first presented there, directed by his long-standing collaborative partner, Marshall W. Mason. The Circle Rep's production of Wilson's The Hot l Baltimore won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Obie Award, and in 1979 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Talley's Folly.

Tom Wojtunik (Director) is the Artistic Director of the Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC), where he has directed Children of Eden (NY IT Nominee, Outstanding Musical), The Pillowman, Ragtime (NY IT Nominee, Outstanding Musical), and Proof. NY directing credits include: Bright Lights, Big City (MMC); The Who?s Tommy (NY IT Nominee, Outstanding Musical), Man of La Mancha, Six Degrees of Separation, Urinetown (NY IT Award, Outstanding Musical), Take Me Out (The Gallery Players); The Play About the Naked Guy and Edenville (NY IT Nominee ? Best Director, Emerging Artists Theatre); The Miss Education of Jenna Bush (FringeNYC, Best Solo Show & Audience Favorite); Rum and Vodka and The Good Thief (Prospect St. Productions); I?m in Love with Your Wife (Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival); and workshops of David?s Play and Bella Via (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Tom served as a 2007/2008 Resident Director at Ensemble Studio Theatre, where he was an Associate Producer on the 2008 Marathon of One-Act Plays. He was an Associate Casting Director at Charles Rosen Casting, produced the 2002 Festival of New Musicals for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and served as Artistic Director of NeoPack, a theatre company focused on new work, from 2001-2004. BFA: Marymount Manhattan College. Member: SDC, LCT Directors? Lab, Emerging Artists Theatre.

THE NEW YORK INNOVATIVE THEATRE FOUNDATION is a not-for-profit organization, which recognizes the great work of New York's Off-Off-Broadway?honoring its artistic heritage and providing an alliance for this extensive and richly varied community. As advocates for Off-Off-Broadway, they recognize its unique and essential role contributing to global culture.
Each season, The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation publicly recognizes excellence in Off-Off-Broadway, with a high-profile awards ceremony. The New York Innovative Theatre Awards celebrate the community and honor some of the previous year?s greatest achievements. The IT Awards heighten audience awareness and foster greater appreciation of the New York theatre experience.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff