Lynn Nottage and Leonard Majzlin Will Be Honored At DGF Gala Hosted By Amber Ruffin

Dramatists Guild Foundation has announced that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and Media Producer, Educator and Philanthropist Leonard Majzlin will be honored for their creative contributions, educational mentorship, and continued dedication to the American theater at the organization's annual Gala on October 23, 2023, at Ziegfeld Ballroom. 

Comedian and Tony Award-nominated writer Amber Ruffin (SOME LIKE IT HOT, upcoming THE WIZ) will host the evening's celebration. 

The acclaimed writing career and mentorship work of Nottage will be celebrated with this year's dramatist honor. 

“The Dramatists Guild Foundation is a true gift. It provides vital resources, space and support to writers at all the varied, complicated and unexpected stages of their careers. I am tremendously moved to be recognized and honored by my peers, and by an organization that is so committed to the health and wellbeing of our writing community,” Nottage said of her honor.

Lynn Nottage is the first woman to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Recent work includes, Intimate Apparel the Opera (LCT), Clyde's (Broadway, Second Stage) The Secret Life of Bees the musical (Atlantic, Almeida). Other work includes, Mlima's Tale (Outer Critics' Circle & Lortel nominations); Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie, Lucille Lortel, Evening Standard Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize; nominated for Tony and Olivier awards); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award); Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, Obie, Lortel, NY Drama Critics' Circle, AUDELCO, Drama Desk and OCC awards). Awards: PEN/Laura Pels Master Dramatist Award, Doris Duke Artist Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, and is a professor at Columbia University and a member of the Dramatists Guild. 

Majzlin will be honored with the Patron of the Arts honors for his work, with late wife and composer/lyricist Carol Hall, to uplift and support the theater community. Leonard and Carol founded the Music Hall in the DGF office space, located in midtown Manhattan, to provide free space for dramatists to write, perform, and create their work. 

"Playwriting takes courage —and vision — commitment and guts. We live in a world that is daily being bombarded by half-truths, and I can think of no better use of one's dollar than to support the voice of playwrights in their efforts to cut through the fog and enrich us all with their insights, their humor, their perspective,” Majzlin said.

Leonard Majzlin graduated from George School, a Quaker private school in Bucks County, and from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He worked alongside Joseph Papp as a charter member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, then with producers Henry Guettel and Arthur Cantor on their national companies of Broadway plays. In the 1960s, he agented at the William Morris Agency, then began writing, directing and/or producing films and videos. He then shifted his focus to technology and interpretive plans for museum exhibits. For NYU Steinhardt, Leonard developed and teaches their graduate course, Media for Learning in Museum Exhibits & Public Space. His work has been at BAM, The Museum at Eldridge Street, The Jewish Museum, The Arizona Historical Society, and The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, among others. He also produced the highly praised Off-Broadway musical, "To Whom It May Concern," written by his late wife, Carol Hall, and directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald. Leonard is the Media Advisor to DGF's The Legacy Project, a series of video documentaries featuring prominent American Playwrights, lyricists and composers interviewed by younger playwrights, discussing the craft of writing for the theater. Leonard is a major supporter of the Prospect Theater and was the writing commission sponsor of their VISION Series, a new initiative launched in 2020. He supports the Classic Stage Company, the York Theater and the Flight Path Dance Project, and is on the Board of The Bent, a new theater company in Palm Springs, CA, dedicated to producing LGBTQ+ plays. Leonard is a major supporter of J STREET, an advocacy group whose aim is to enhance progressive policy here and in Israel, and to encourage American leadership to help resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He also supports a number of preservationist organizations and is developing a book on key landmark accomplishments in NYC.

The honorees will be celebrated at DGF's Gala, supporting playwrights, composers, lyricists and librettists for the American theater through financial resources, education-driven programming, and free rehearsal spaces throughout their careers. Tables, individual tickets and sponsorship opportunities are now available by visiting DGFGala.com or calling (212) 391-8384.

Amber Ruffin is a writer, executive producer, and host of the Emmy and WGA Award nominated series “The Amber Ruffin Show” on Peacock. She is also an Emmy and WGA Award nominated writer and performer for NBC's “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Ruffin was the first African American female to write for a late-night network talk show in the U.S. She has written and performed on shows like “Detroiters” “A Black Lady Sketch Show” and “Drunk History.” Ruffin has written for the Emmys, Golden Globes and Tonys. She was previously a performer at Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, the iO Theater and the Second City in Chicago. Ruffin is a New York Times bestselling author, along with her sister Lacey Lamar, of “You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories of Racism.” She co-wrote the most Tony nominated musical of 2022, “Some Like it Hot.” Ruffin is now writing a revival of “The Wiz” which tours fall of 2023 and lands on Broadway spring of 2024.

For more information on how to support theater writers, visit DGF.org and follow us at @dgfound.