Princess Grace Foundation-USA Announces 2016 Award Winners In Theater, Dance & Film

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) has announced the winners of the 2016 Princess Grace Awards. The Annual Gala will continue the legacy of Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco, who helped emerging artists pursue their artistic goals during Her lifetime. In total, the Foundation is awarding over $1 million to artists in theater, dance, and film. In the presence of Their Serene Highnesses The Prince and The Princess of Monaco, this year's Gala will be held at Cipriani 25 Broadway on October 24, 2016. The evening will be co-chaired by Lisa and Richard Plepler, Sidney and Katia Toledano, and Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel. Major Gala supporters include: Christian Dior Couture, as Presenting Sponsor and Mrs. Lily Safra as Crown Sponsor.

Toby Boshak, Executive Director of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA shared, "We are thrilled to welcome this year's incredibly talented Award winners into the Princess Grace Foundation-USA family. Each year we enthusiastically support a passionate New Group of emerging talents who will one day be at the forefront of the arts. We look forward to watching them grow as artists in the same way we have watched this year's Statue Award winners, Leslie Odom Jr. and Camille Brown, evolve. We are incredibly proud of all of them."

For the eighth year in a row, celebrated artist Alex Soldier, known for his mastery of precious miniatures, has created an objet d'art to represent the Princess Grace Awards. The Award symbolically combines the three art forms lauded by the Foundation: theater, dance, and film by using precious metals and Swarovski crystal accents. Presented as a distinctive sculpture to the Prince Rainier III Award honoree, this creation is transformed for each recipient to wear as a pin, a special reminder of their Award for the world to see.

Past winners of the Awards for theater, dance and film who distinguish themselves in their artistic disciplines since receiving their initial Princess Grace Awards are eligible to for the Foundation's Princess Grace Statue Award. This year, Leslie Odom Jr, who starred as Aaron Burr in Broadway's hit musical Hamilton for which he received a 2016 Tony Award() for Best Actor in a Musical, and 2016 Bessie-nominated choreographer, Camille A. Brown, will each receive Princess Grace Statue Awards. In addition to a $25,000 unrestricted cash gift, Leslie and Camille will be presented with a bronze statue of Princess Grace created by the Dutch artist Kees Verkade. To date, sixty-three artists have received this Award.

This year's Princess Grace Award winners are: For Theater and Playwriting:
Tanya Orellana/California institute of the Arts (Theater Scholarship, Fabergé Theater Award), Lucius Robinson/ Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre (Theater Scholarship, Grace Le Vine Theater Award), Keith Wallace/ University of California, San Diego (Theater Scholarship, Gant Gaither Theater Award), Bruce A. Lemon/Cornerstone Theater Company (Theater Apprenticeship, Robert and Gloria Hausman Theater Award), Christopher Murillo/Playwrights' Arena (Theater Fellowship, Pierre Cardin Award), Dawn Monique Williams/Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Theater Fellowship), Emma D. Stanton/New Dramatists (Playwriting Fellowship); Honoraria: Eric Berryman/The Wooster Group, Inc., Modesto Jimenez/Bushwick Starr).

For Dance Performance and Choreography: Tyson Clark/Boston Ballet (Dance Scholarship, Chris Hellman Dance Award), Riley O'Flynn/the Juilliard School (Dance Scholarship) Marc Crousillat/Trisha Brown Dance Company (Dance Fellowship), Jeffery Duffy/Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (Dance Fellowship), Paige Fraser/ Visceral Dance Chicago (Dance Fellowship), Tamisha Guy/ Abraham.In.Motion (Dance Fellowship), Danielle Agami/ Visceral Dance Chicago (Choreography Fellowship), Penny Saunders/ Whim W'him (Choreography Fellowship); Honorarium: Chrystyn M. Fentroy/Dance Theatre of Harlem.

For Film: Beryl Allee/Pacific Northwest College of Art (Film Undergraduate Scholarship, Cary Grant Film Award), Langston Sanchez/Hampshire College(Film Undergraduate Scholarship), Gordon Straub/California Institute of the Arts (Film Undergraduate Scholarship), Nellie Kluz/ University of Illinois, Chicago (Film Graduate Scholarship) Candy Guinea/ San Franscisco State University (Film Graduate Scholarship, John H. Johnson Film Award), Cameron Quevedo/ University of Texas at Austin (Film Graduate Scholarship); Honoraria: Ben Neufeld/ California Institute of the Arts.

Special Project, Works in Progress Residencies at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and the Choreography Mentorship Co-Commission (CMCC) Awards are grants available to past Princess Grace Awards and Honoraria recipients for uniquely significant projects that advance their artistic development. This year's winners are:
Special Project Awards: Kyle Abraham, Marjani A. Forte, Rachel Israel, Ciara L. Lacy, Mitch A. McCabe and Jennifer Reeves.
Works in Progress Residencies: Jiehae Park, Victor Quijada, Evan Yionoulis.
Choreography Mentorship Co-Commission (CMCC) Award: Camille A. Brown.

ABOUT THE PRINCESS GRACE FOUNDATION - USA
The Princess Grace Foundation-USA is a non-profit, publicly-supported foundation, headquartered in New York City and founded 34 years ago by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to honor his wife, Princess Grace's [Kelly] legacy. The Foundation's mission is dedicated to identifying and assisting emerging talent in theater, dance, and film by awarding grants in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships. Since the Foundation's inception, nearly 800 recipients have been awarded more than $13 million. Some notable Princess Grace Awards recipients in Film include: Emmy winner Cary Fukunaga, director of "True Detective", Jane Eyre and Beasts of No Nation;Greg Mottola director of Superbad, "Arrested Development", and the upcoming Keeping up with the Joneses;Stephen Hillenburg, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. Theater recipients include: Tony Award winner for Best Direction of a Play, Anna D. Shapiro; Pulitzer and Tony Award winning playwright Tony Kushner; Golden Globe Award winner Oscar Isaac; and Academy Award winner Eric Simonson. Dance/Choreography recipients include: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director Robert Battle; American Ballet Theatre's Gillian Murphy and Isabella Boylston and New York City Ballet's Tiler Peck and Maria Kowroski; as well as choreographers Kyle Abraham and Michelle Dorrance.

For more information about the Princess Grace Awards program, please visit www.pgfusa.org