Lynnie Godfrey and Caridad Svich Among 2024 Honor Roll! Honors Recipients

Honor Roll!, the 2,000-member organization that advocates for women+ playwrights over 40, has announced the recipients of the 2024 MARJORIE BICKNELL HONOR ROLL! HONORS. Honor Roll! Honors recognizes the extraordinary work individuals and organizations have done- and continue to do - on behalf of women+ playwrights over 40.

This year's Honorees are:

Legacy Award - Lynnie Godfrey, League of Professional Theatre Women Outstanding Producer - Melissa Riker, EstroGenius Festival

Inclusionary Festival - Liz Amadio, Cosmic Orchid
Outstanding Publisher - Caridad Svich, NoPassport Press
Individual Achievement - Fran Pesch, Young at Heart Players, Dayton FutureFest

In addition, a Special Award will be posthumously presented to honor Marjorie Bicknell, who created and administered the awards in previous years.

Nominations for Honor Roll! Honors were gathered from among the organization's 2,000 members and the Honorees were selected from those nominees by the organization's Executive Committee.

Legacy Award recipient Lynnie Godfrey, a multi-talented actor, singer, director, and teacher, has long championed the work of women in theater. Through her advocacy, podcasts, and leadership as president of the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW), she has been a strong ally member of Honor Roll!, creating new organizational partnerships with Honor Roll!, while also acting in her individual capacity to support the production of Honor Roll! member work. Godfrey comments, "To be recognized by such an incredible, trailblazing group of women whose bodies of work are extraordinary leaves me humbled and speechless. I am proud to be an ally of HONOR ROLL!"

Outstanding Producer Melissa Riker curates the EstroGenius Festival, which has a history of creating a community that hears, sees, and celebrates women, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary artists in all their dynamic diversity. Beginning at Manhattan Theatre Source in 2000 as a short-play festival, EstroGenius has launched and supported over a thousand artists in its 24 years. "Being celebrated by a community we are here to amplify is an incredible honor," Riker says. "I'm happy to share this recognition with the producing team of Estro 2024: maura nguyễn donohue, Portia Wells, Vincent Marano, and John C. Robinson."

Inclusionary Festival honoree Liz Amadio, the Artistic Director of Cosmic Orchid, initiated "Sundays at Westbeth, Spring 2024 Reading Salon," featuring a dozen short plays by Honor Roll! members. Amadio writes, "I am grateful to be acknowledged by Honor Roll! along with this group of distinguished colleagues. In solidarity, we endeavor to amplify the voices of women+, 40+ playwrights. Ageism is truly the final frontier in conquering discrimination."

Outstanding Publisher Caridad Svich, an award-winning playwright, is the publisher of NoPassport Press, which champions women playwrights over 40. Svich says, "It's wonderful to be recognized for my work as a publisher. NoPassport Press has been and is a labor of love to promote new writing in theater and performance in print. It's also an archive of sorts of historical work from the U.S. avant garde: over 200 titles since 2003.We are still going against many tides."

Fran Pesch, recipient of the Individual Achievement honor, is the program director for Dayton Playhouse's FutureFest - started in 1991 - one of the most diverse festivals of new work in the U.S. Pesch is also the founder of Young at Heart players, which seeks to combat ageism in theater and offer opportunities to creatives who might be overlooked because of age. "I am very appreciative of being selected for this award since I never viewed my efforts as being 'special,'" Pesch says. "I have just strived to provide creative opportunities for seniors and continued support to playwrights."

A Special Honor is being presented posthumously to Marjorie Bicknell who initiated the Honors awards and diligently handled all aspects of the program for Honor Roll! until this year. Marjorie's many impressive achievements - among them, her play "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" won 3 Jeff Awards; she was the winner of the Pennsylvania Playwright Award; Philadelphia Regional Rep for the Dramatists Guild; and founder of Playwrights Alliance of Philadelphia - can be found on her Honor Roll! playwrights page: https://www.honorrollplaywrights.org/browse-bios/marjorie-bicknell. Marjorie, affectionately called Marj by her many friends and fans, was devoted and dynamic, and is greatly missed. The program has been renamed in her memory: the Marjorie Bicknell Honor Roll! Honors.

Honor Roll! Honors is overseen by member Ann Timmons and Executive Committee liaison Olga Humphrey. The Honor Roll! Executive Committee members are Peppur Chambers, Cindy Cooper, Cheryl Davis, Olga Humphrey, Jacquelyn Reingold, Bayla Travis, and Diana Yanez.

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