John Patrick Shanley To Be Honored at The William Inge Center For The Performing Arts

The William Inge Center for the Arts at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas, announces John Patrick Shanley as the Honoree for the 42nd William Inge Theatre Festival, which takes place April 17-19, 2025.  Shanley will be presented with the William Inge Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award. The Festival will include the 8th New Play Lab, a partnership with the Kansas Arts Commission and Independence Community College, performances, workshops, panel discussions and social events.

John Patrick Shanley is from The Bronx. His plays include Brooklyn Laundry, Prodigal Son, Outside Mullingar (Tony nomination), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, Italian-American Reconciliation, Welcome to the Moon, Four Dogs and a Bone, Dirty Story, Defiance, and Beggars in the House of Plenty. His theatrical work is performed extensively across the United States and around the world. For his play, Doubt, he received both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In the arena of screenwriting, he has ten films to his credit, most recently Wild Mountain Thyme, with Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, and Christopher Walken. His film of Doubt, with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis, which he also directed, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Other films include Five Corners (Special Jury Prize, Barcelona Film Festival), Alive, Joe Versus the Volcano (which he also directed), and Live From Baghdad for HBO (Emmy nomination). For his script of Moonstruck he received both the Writers Guild of America Award and an Academy Award for best original screenplay. In 2009, The Writers Guild of America awarded Mr. Shanley the Lifetime Achievement In Writing.  “Sometimes you see an extraordinarily masterful work and you are confronted and astonished all at once. Such was the case with the play Doubt: A Parable.”  says Inge Festival Director Dee Byrd-Molnar in a statement. “We are extremely excited that John Patrick Shanley will be joining us at the William Inge Theatre Festival this year.”

The William Inge Theatre Festival is produced by Independence Community College, Kansas, with support by the William Inge Festival Foundation, the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. It is the Official Theatre Festival of the State of Kansas, as designated by the State Legislature. Founded in 1981, the Inge Festival brings to southeast Kansas acclaimed playwrights as Honoree. Lynn Nottage, Paula Vogel, Stephen Sondheim, Neil Simon, Lauren Gunderson, and Arthur Miller are among the many esteemed Honorees who have been presented the William Inge Achievement Distinguished Achievement in American Theater Award.

William Inge (1913-1973) is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (“Picnic”) and Oscar for Best Screenplay (“Splendor in the Grass.”) Inge was born and raised in Independence and much of his work was inspired by his rural upbringing.

Independence Community College is a public institution established in 1925. It is committed to providing students with exceptional educational and artistic opportunities in a supportive community.

For more information, please visit www.ingecenter.org

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