Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Dawn Monique Williams Wins Princess Grace Award

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) Artistic Associate Dawn Monique Williams has been named a 2016 Princess Grace Foundation Award winner.

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA announced this week that it is awarding over $1 million to emerging artists in theater, dance and filM. Williams will receive a Theater Fellowship to support her work as director of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor at OSF in 2017.

OSF Artistic Director Bill Rauch said, "Dawn's direction of a production on OSF's Allen Elizabethan Theatre stage, endorsed and supported by the Princess Grace Foundation, crystallizes my dual passions as OSF's artistic director: using the considerable resources of the nation's largest rotating repertory company to advance the work of rising young artistic leaders; and stewarding this 81-year old theater's obligation to pass along its ownership to the diverse voices of this and future generations. Dawn has been my trusted colleague and a vital collaborator to OSF for three seasons now, and I am so excited to see her direct this joyful Shakespeare romantic comedy."

"The opportunity that Bill Rauch is giving me, with the generous support of the Princess Grace Foundation, is a huge leap forward in my career," Williams said. "The Allen Elizabethan Theatre, a 1200-seat house, is more than double the capacity of any theatre I have directed in. I am honored that Bill is entrusting me with a production of this scale, despite peer organizations being averse to the 'risk' of hiring a woman of color to direct a Shakespeare title. It feels the natural trajectory of our deep mentorship and collaboration of the last three years."

The awards will be presented at the Princess Grace Foundation's Annual Gala, to be held Oct. 24 in New York City in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Monaco.

"We are thrilled to welcome this year's incredibly talented Award winners into the Princess Grace Foundation-USA family," said Executive Director Toby Boshak. "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."

Founded by Angus Bowmer in 1935 and winner of a 1983 Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival presents an eight-month season of 11 plays that include works by Shakespeare as well as a mix of classics, musicals, and new works. The Festival also draws attendance of more than 400,000 to almost 800 performances every year and employs approximately 575 theatre professionals. In 2008, OSF launched American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, a 10-year cycle of commissioning new plays that has already resulted in several OSF commissions finding success nationwide.

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