New Group to Honor Wallace Shawn at 2011 Gala, 5/9

The New Group honors Wallace Shawn and Fred Wistow with the fifth annual Michael Mendelson Award. Founded in 2005, this award recognizes individuals who show outstanding commitment to the theatrical community. Past recipients include Robyn Goodman, Ethan Hawke, Ruth and Stephen Hendel,Wendy Ettinger and Derek McLane.

Wallace Shawn's first play, Our Late Night, was honored with an Obie Award (1975). Other plays include A Thought in Three Parts, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever (1990-91 Obie Award), The Designated Mourner and Grasses of a Thousand Colors. Other works: the 1977 translation of Machiavelli's The Mandrake and a translation of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera (Broadway 2006, directed by Scott Elliott).

With André Gregory, he wrote the film My Dinner With André, and with Tom Cairns wrote the screenplay for Marie and Bruce. As an actor, he has appeared in film and on stage with credits including Manhattan, Radio Days, Vanya on 42nd Street, Clueless, The Wife, The Moderns and many others. Shawn's Essays (Haymarket Books) was just released in paperback. This season's Marie and Bruce marks Shawn's fifth collaboration with The New Group. In 2005, he appeared there in a revival of David Rabe's Hurlyburly directed by Scott Elliott. His play Aunt Dan and Lemon was presented by the company in 2003, and in 2007, he appeared in The Fever (both under Elliott's direction). The Music Teacher, a play with music written with brother AlLen Shawn and directed by Tom Cairns, was presented at The New Group in 2006.

A former member of the Board of The New Group and a graduate of P.S. 91 in the Bronx, Fred Wistow currently serves as Chairman of a non-profit organization serving the mental health field, the Psychotherapy Network, Inc., writing periodically for its bi-monthly magazine, the Psychotherapy Networker. He is also a trustee of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Since 1999, when he retired as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Time Warner's Warner Music Group, he has worked as a consultant to a variety of individuals and businesses.

The New Group continues to produce award winning, critically acclaimed work after 15 triumphant
seasons. This artist-driven, non-profit company maintains an ensemble approach to developing
adventurous and relevant contemporary theater. Earlier this season, The New Group presented the world premiere of Tommy Nohilly's Blood From A Stone. The company is currently represented Off-Broadway by Wallace Shawn's Marie and Bruce, directed by Scott Elliott and starring Marisa Tomei and Frank Whaley in the title roles. Last season, The New Group presented the extended run of Kenneth Lonergan's The Starry Messenger featuring Matthew Broderick, the sold-out revival of Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind directed by Ethan Hawke, and the world premiere of the new musical The Kid, directed by Scott Elliott. Past productions include Ayub Khan-Din's Rafta, Rafta..., Jonathan Marc Sherman's Things We Want, Jay Presson Allen's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and David Rabe's Hurlyburly, among many others. Additionally, Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years, Abigail's Party, Smelling a Rat, Goose-Pimples and Ecstasy, as well as Wallace Shawn's The Fever and Aunt Dan and Lemon. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony® Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q).

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos

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