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Lane, Redford, Etc. to Honor Twain Prize-Winner Simon

By: Aug. 30, 2006
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Jason Alexander, Richard Dreyfus, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper, Robert Redford, Paul Reiser, Mercedes Ruehl and Jonathan Silverman will be on hand to salute Neil Simon at the Kennedy Center's Ninth Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor ceremony.

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The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, who was previously announced as this year's recipient of the Twain Prize, will be honored with the award in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Sunday, October 15 at 8pm.  The ceremony, which will be taped by D.C.'s WETA, will be telecast on nationwide PBS stations on November 20th at 9 PM (check local listings).

"Neil Simon, like Mark Twain, has a unique way of exposing the American spirit by drawing on experiences in his own life and creating insightful and touching portraits of the world around him," stated Kennedy Center chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman. Simon joins a list of previous award recipients that includes Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels, and, most recently, Steve Martin.

Simon, who was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927, is known for his distinctly New York humor as well as for his varied and prolifit output. Having started as a comedy writer on "Calvalcade of Stars" and "Your Show of Shows" in the late '40s and early '50s, Simon went on to write plays such as The Star-Spangled Girl, Plaza Suite, The Sunshine Boys, The Good Doctor, California Suite, Chapter Two, the autobiographical trilogy comprised of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound, Rumors, the Pulitzer-winning Lost in Yonkers and The Dinner Party.

He has penned books for several musicals, including Sweet Charity, Promises, Promises, They're Playing Our Song, and The Goodbye Girl, based on his Oscar-nominated screenplay. The Pulitzer and three Tonys are among his previous awards.

"The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was created to honor the brilliant minds that elbow American culture to see if it's still alive—and make us laugh about it," states the Kennedy Center's website. The award is, of course, named after the legendary writer and humorist (born Samuel Clemens) who penned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Proceeds of the evening will benefit the center's education programs.

Visit the Kennedy Center box office or call 202-467-4600 (local number) or 800-444-1324 (toll free for those calling from outside the Washington area) for tickets. Visit www.kennedy-center.org for more information.



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