Susan Stroman to Receive 2023 Louis Auchincloss Prize From Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York will present its 2023 Louis Auchincloss Prize to five-time Tony Award-winning Director and Choreographer Susan Stroman, for her contributions to the cultural and performing arts landscape in New York City and beyond. Slated for December 4th at the Museum, the special evening will include cocktails, an awards presentation, and highly anticipated performances of Stroman's work by Vanessa Williams, Robyn Hurder, Karen Ziemba, and other stage and screen notables.   

Stroman is best known for the Broadway musicals Crazy for You, Contact, The Scottsboro Boys, and The Producers – winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Her work has been lauded with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and a record six Astaire Awards. 

"Each Fall, the Museum of the City of New York presents the Louis Auchincloss Prize to writers and artists whose work is inspired by and enhances the five boroughs of New York City,” says Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, the Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. “We're absolutely thrilled to honor Susan Stroman's talent and legacy with this year's award.”

"I see myself as a storyteller, using the power of theater to share stories from the stages of the greatest city in the world,” says Susan Stroman. “It's truly an honor to be recognized with this prestigious award by the Museum of the City of New York – NYC's storyteller for more than 100 years.”

The Louis Auchincloss Prize is presented to writers and artists whose work is inspired by and enhances the five boroughs of New York City. Disciplines include literature, architecture, art, music, playwriting, and photography. The Prize honors Louis Auchincloss (1917–2010) for his many years of service to the Museum of the City of New York, as well as his literary contributions which established him as one of America's leading 20th- and 21st-century novelists. Past Louis Auchincloss Prize honorees include Anna Deveare Smith, Faith Ringgold, Robert Stern, Jason Robert Brown, Whoopi Goldberg, Gloria Steinem, Michiko Kakutani, Tony Kushner, Wynton Marsalis, Toshiko Mori, and Philip Glass. 

Event details:

What: Louis Auchincloss Prize Presentation
When: Monday, December 4, 2023, 6:00pm 
Where: In person, Museum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street)
Tickets: Start at $500; https://www.mcny.org/event/2023-louis-auchincloss-prize
Honoree:  Susan Stroman, five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer
Performances: Josh Breckenridge, Robyn Hurder, Debra Monk, Brad Oscar, Anna Uzele, Vanessa Williams; and Karen Ziemba
Chair: Elizabeth Graziolo, trustee and chairman, Louis Auchincloss Prize

About the Honoree

A five-time Tony Award-winning director and choreographer known for the Broadway musicals Crazy for You, Contact, The Scottsboro Boys, and The Producers – winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography – her work has been honored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and a record six Astaire Awards. 

For Broadway, she most recently directed and choreographed the recent Kander & Ebb musical, New York, New York and directed the new play,  POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. This season in London's West End, she directed and choreographed the revival of  Crazy for You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Other Broadway credits include Show Boat, Prince of Broadway, Bullets Over Broadway, Big Fish, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, Thou Shalt Not, The Music Man, Big, The Frogs, and Steel Pier. Off-Broadway she directed and choreographed Little Dancer, The Beast in the Jungle, Dot, Flora the Red Menace, And the World Goes ‘Round, Happiness, The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, as well as The Merry Widow for The Metropolitan Opera. She has created ballets for New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Martha Graham. She received the American Choreography Award for her work in Columbia Pictures feature film Center Stage. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater and an inductee of the Theater Hall of Fame in New York City.

About The Museum of the City of New York

Celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023, the Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world's most influential metropolis. Winner of "Best Museum" in Time Out New York's "Best of the City 2021" and multiple American Alliance of Museums (AAM) awards, MCNY engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city's past, present, and future.