2nd Annual 'Mimi' Awards to be Presented Oct. 26 Including Steinberg Playwright Awards

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has announced that the 2nd Annual ‘Mimi' Awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held Monday, October 26th, at Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater at 6:30 p.m. The recipients of these ‘Steinberg Playwright Awards' will be announced at a press conference on Thursday morning, September 17th.

Last year, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust presented Tony Kushner with the very first ‘Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award,' which carried a cash prize of $200,000, making it the largest award ever created to encourage artistic achievement in the American theater. As previously announced, the ‘Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award' (for established playwrights) and the ‘Steinberg Playwright Awards' (for playwrights in earlier stages of their careers), both known as ‘The Mimi,' will be presented in alternating years.

In 2008, The Board of Directors of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust established an Advisory Committee of prominent theater professionals responsible for establishing the criteria for the Steinberg Playwright Awards, as well as the nomination and selection process. The current members of the Advisory Committee are André Bishop, Artistic Director, Lincoln Center Theater; David Emmes, Producing Artistic Director, South Coast Repertory; Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater; Polly K. Carl, Ph.D., Producing Artistic Director, Playwrights Center; Martha Lavey, Artistic Director, Steppenwolf Theatre Company; playwright Eduardo Machado, Artistic Director, INTAR Theatre; and Marc Masterson, Artistic Director, Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The members of the Board of Directors of The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust are Carole A. Krumland, James D. Steinberg, Michael A. Steinberg, Seth M. Weingarten and William D. Zabel.

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust was created by Harold Steinberg in 1986 in the names of himself and his late wife Miriam. The Trust's primary mission is to support and promote the American theater as a vital part of our culture by nurturing American Playwrights, encouraging the development and production of new American plays, and providing significant support to theater companies across the country.

Since its inception, the Trust has given in excess of $40 million to more than one hundred not-for-profit theater organizations. These gifts have funded countless productions, as well as the commissioning of playwrights, playwriting programs and arts-in-education outreach programs for tens of thousands of children in an effort to create and educate new generations of theatergoers.

The Trust has also been instrumental in providing emergency assistance to numerous theater companies that have faced severe financial circumstances (including possible dissolution) because of cutbacks in traditional sources of funding or other factors, including the devastating impact of the events of September 11, 2001 on cultural institutions in New York City.

The Trust has also collaborated with the American Theatre Critics Association to create and fund the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award. The award is presented annually during the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Recent winners of this award include Craig Lucas, Lynn Nottage, Lee Blessing and Nilo Cruz.

 

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