David Henry Hwang and James Ijames Join Dramatists Guild Foundation's Board of Directors

 Dramatists Guild Foundation has announced that acclaimed, Award-winning playwrights David Henry Hwang and James Ijames join the Board of Directors to help shape and guide the organization’s mission to support theater writers at all stages of their careers.

“On the stage, David and James write stunning and impactful stories that stay with you long after you leave the theater. Off the stage, they work to shape a better future for those looking to tell their stories. We are thrilled and deeply honored to have their voices on our leadership team,” DGF’s Executive Director Rachel Routh said.

David Henry Hwang’s stage works include the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the musicals Aida (reconceived revival launched 2023 in Europe), Soft Power, Flower Drum Song and Disney’s Tarzan. Called America’s most-produced living opera librettist by Opera News, he has written thirteen libretti, including five with composer Philip Glass. His screenplays include M. Butterfly and he is penning an Anna May Wong biopic to star actress Gemma Chan. Hwang co-wrote the Gold Record “Solo” with the late pop music icon Prince and was a Writer/Consulting Producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair from 2015-2019. He is currently show running and creating A New Television series, Billion Dollar Whale. A professor at Columbia University and recent Chair of the American Theatre Wing, Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a Grammy Award winner and two-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, and a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2018 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021; his star was unveiled on the Lucille Lortel Playwrights Sidewalk in 2022.

James Ijames is a Pulitzer Prize winning and Tony Award nominated playwright, a director and educator. James’ plays have been produced by Flashpoint Theater Company, Orbiter 3, Theatre Horizon, Wilma Theatre, Theatre Exile, Azuka Theatre (Philadelphia, PA), The National Black Theatre, JACK, The Public Theater (NYC), Hudson Valley Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Definition Theatre, Timeline Theater (Chicago IL) Shotgun Players (Berkeley, CA) and have received development with PlayPenn New Play Conference, The Lark, Playwright's Horizon, Clubbed Thumb, Villanova Theater, Wilma Theater, Azuka Theatre and Victory Garden. James is the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Artist recipient, and two Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Direction of a Play for The Brothers Size with Simpatico Theatre Company and Gem of the Ocean with Arden Theatre. James is a 2015 Pew Fellow for Playwriting, the 2015 winner of the Terrence McNally New Play Award for WHITE, the 2015 Kesselring Honorable Mention Prize winner for ....Miz Martha, a 2017 recipient of the Whiting Award, a 2019 Kesselring Prize for Kill Move Paradise, a 2020 and 2022 Steinberg Prize, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Drama recipient  and a 2023 Tony nominee for Best Play for Fat Ham. James was a founding member of Orbiter 3, Philadelphia’s first playwright producing collective. He received a B.A. in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA and a M.F.A. in Acting from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. James is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Villanova University. He resides in South Philadelphia. 

Hwang and Ijames join the Board, composed of dramatists, theater industry producing and marketing professionals, and artistic philanthropists who serve as important artistic and strategic voices of the organization’s leadership. They join President Andrew Lippa, Vice President Kevin Hager, Secretary Michael Gordon, Treasurer Susan Laubach, President Emeritus Gretchen Cryer, C. Graham Berwind, III, Elizabeth Dewberry, Gary DiCenzo, Louise Evins, Eleni Gianulis-Vermeer, Roe Green, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Donald J. Loftus, Barbara Olcott, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Peter Ratray, and Doug Wright. 

For more information on DGF’s mission and how to support theater writers, visit DGF.org and follow @dgfound.