| Lilly Award | |
| Awarded For: | Excellence for Women in Theatre, including Playwrights, Actors, Designers, Producers and Others |
| Presenter: | The Lilly Award Foundation |
| Country: | United States |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Website: | http://www.thelillyawards.org/ |
The Lilly Awards are an American awards ceremony recognizing extraordinary women in theatre. An annual celebration is held in New York to honor female writers, composers, directors, designers, producers and advocates. Some men have also been awarded the Miss Lilly, a prize in recognition of their advocacy for women in a male-dominated industry. Named after Lillian Hellman, the Lilly Awards were founded in 2010 by the playwrights Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Theresa Rebeck. Marsha Norman is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony-award winning playwright, whose work includes the book of the musical The Color Purple and book and lyrics of The Secret Garden.[1]
The Lillys promote the work of women in theatre by partnering with the Dramatists Guild to produce The Count, the first study of its kind to measure the data of the theatre industry and investigate the lack of gender parity in American theatre. Between 2011-2014, in a study sampling 2,508 productions in American theatres, only 22% of the plays and musicals produced in America were written by women.[2]
By 2018, there have been a few notable attempts to draw the attention of theatres to the work of American female playwrights, including LA-based group, The Kilroys, who founded an annual industry-based survey of excellent female and trans playwrights' work in 2013.
Previous Lilly Award winners include Annie Baker, who won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play The Flick, Lynn Nottage, who won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Sweat, Martyna Majok, who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for her play Cost of Living, and Jeanine Tesori, who is the most recognised female composer in history with five Broadway musicals and five Tony Award Nominations, including the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home.[3]
Many of Broadway and Off-Broadway's leading actors have given speeches at the Lilly Awards highlighting the experiences of women working in the male-dominated theatre. These speeches often acknowledge the forces of misogyny, racism and patriarchy, while encouraging the mission of the Lillys to highlight women in theatre. Presenters at the Lillys have included:
In a speech at the 8th annual Lilly Awards ceremony, playwright Sarah Ruhl said:
"I want to thank all of you and celebrate the work of other women in the theatre this year—you’ve inspired me, you’ve lit the way. And I have faith—there will come a time when the public humiliation that every artist must endure will be spread out equally over both genders, and will be leveled equally by both genders. And if that kind of equity does not in itself seem something to celebrate, let’s celebrate how we get there—by invoking our mothers, by refusing to shut up, and by making our own fun."[4]
At the 2018 Lilly Awards, after being recognized with the "You've Changed The World" Award, playwright Eve Ensler said:
"I hope it will be a lot easier for you than it was for me and women of my generation, but racist patriarchy is a persistent and devious system of oppression. It is far more tenacious and relentless than I had imagined.There are many things that will drive you mad as women playwrights. Plays that get diminished by being called a woman’s play, as if that’s an insult. We never call male driven plays, men’s plays. We call them plays. Because men are still seen as the drivers of the world. When I wrote The Vagina Monologues, journalists were constantly asking me with a kind of pity, how I felt that only women come to my show. I would say, “Only women? You mean 51% of the population? Thank you, women.”
They will tell you your work isn’t commercial and that is code for, “isn’t written by a white man,” or “pure entertainment.” And to be honest, no one really has a bloody idea what will become commercial—meaning what play will attract a large audience. It has to do with timing, the political and cultural climate, and tapping into an invisible zeitgeist. I can’t tell you how many times I was told no one would come to see a play about vaginas, that it was professional suicide, that I would be marginalized and exiled."[5]
The Lilly Awards hosts a Broadway Cabaret, a 24 Hour Plays event,[6] and occasionally, 24 Hour Musicals.
| Date | Prize | Winner | Discipline | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Emily Mann | Director | |
| 2020 | The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write A Play' Award | Antoinette Nwandu | Playwright | |
| 2020 | The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write A Musical' Award | Kirsten Childs | Playwright, Composer, Lyricist | |
| 2020 | The Stacey Mindich 'Go Work in Theater' Award | Whitney White, Jillian Walker, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Stacey Rose, and Nikkole Salter | Various | |
| 2020 | NYWF Director's Apprenticeship Award | Melissa Crespo | Director | |
| 2020 | Lilly Award | Natyna Bean and Stevie Walker-Webb | Playwright and Director | |
| 2020 | Miss Lilly Award | Tom Kirdahy | Producer | |
| 2020 | Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award | Sarita P. Fellows | Costume Designer | |
| 2020 | Williamstown Theatre Festival Commission | Erika Dickerson-Despenza | Playwright | |
| 2019 | The "Badass Saint of Theatre" Award | LaTanya Richardson Jackson | Actor | |
| 2019 | Lilly Award | Glenda May Jackson CBE | Actor and British Under-Secretary of State for Transport | |
| 2019 | The "Ace in the Hole" Award | Jayne Houdyshell | Actor | |
| 2019 | Williamstown Theatre Festival Commission | Dawn Landes | Singer-songwriter | |
| 2019 | The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write a Musical' Award | Masi Asare | Playwright, Composer, Lyricist | |
| 2019 | The 'Thank God You Got Us All Started, and Then Kept Us Going' Award | Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford | Composer and Lyricist | |
| 2019 | The Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award | You-Shin Chen | Scenic designer | |
| 2019 | The Daryl Roth/Atlantic Theater Technical Apprentices | Jasmine Lesane and Taylor Lilly | Lighting Designers | |
| 2019 | NYWF Director's Apprenticeship | Victoria Davidjohn | Director | |
| 2019 | Leah Ryan's FEWW Award | Eliana Pipes | Playwright | |
| 2019 | The 'Aubergine is a F***ing Masterpiece' Award | Julia Cho | Playwright | |
| 2019 | The 'Because You've Deserved It For Ages and We've Been Planning This All Along' Award | Constance Congdon | Playwright and Librettist | |
| 2019 | The 'Aubergine is a F***ing Masterpiece' Award | Julia Cho | Playwright | |
| 2019 | The Stacey Mindich 'Go Write A Play' Award | Madeleine George | Playwright | |
| 2019 | The Miss Lilly Award | Oliver Butler | Director | |
| 2018 | Mixed Martial Arts Award | Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass | Performers | |
| 2018 | You’ve Changed the World Award | Playwright | ||
| 2018 | F It, I’m Going to Say It Award | Lori Myers | Actor | |
| 2018 | Williamstown Theatre Festival ‘With The Females’ Award | Jocelyn Bioh | Playwright | |
| 2018 | Leah Ryan Prize | Gina Femia | Playwright | |
| 2018 | Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award | Stacey Derosier | Designer | |
| 2018 | Producer of the Year Award | Carole Rothman | Producer | |
| 2018 | The New York Women’s Foundation Directing Apprenticeship Award | Abigail Jean-Baptiste | Director | |
| 2018 | Mom of the Year Award | Kelda Roys | Lawyer and politician | |
| 2018 | Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Play" Award | Playwright | ||
| 2018 | Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Musical" Award | Emily Gardner Xu Hall | Composer | |
| 2018 | Lilly Award | Comedian | ||
| 2018 | Miss Lilly Award | Robert Saenz de Viteri, P. Carl, and Ralph Sevush | ||
| 2017 | Legendary Lilly Award | Director | ||
| 2017 | Giant in the Theatre Award | Producer, Artistic Director | ||
| 2017 | The Breakthrough Lilly Award | Denée Benton, Beanie Feldstein, and Madison Ferris | Actor | |
| 2017 | Mistress of Costume Design Award | Toni-Leslie James | Designer | |
| 2017 | Leah Ryan Prize | Susan Soon He Stanton | Playwright | |
| 2017 | Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award | Ari Fulton | Designer | |
| 2017 | New York Women’s Foundation Directing Apprenticeship Award | Jenny Koons | Director | |
| 2017 | Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Play" Award | Playwright | ||
| 2017 | Harper Lee Award | Christina Anderson | Playwright | |
| 2017 | Lifetime Achievement Lilly Award | Micki Grant | ||
| 2017 | Miss Lilly Award | |||
| 2016 | The First International Lilly Award | Waking the Feminists (Ireland) | Social activism[7] | |
| 2016 | Stacey Mindich “Go Write a Play" Award | Rehana Lew Mirza | Playwright | |
| 2016 | Lilly Award in Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2016 | Lilly Award in Acting | Jessie Mueller | Actor | |
| 2016 | Lilly Award in Directing | Kate Whoriskey | Director | |
| 2016 | Leah Ryan Prize | Gemma Murphy | Playwright | |
| 2016 | Lilly Award in Activism | Kathy Najimy | Actor & activist | |
| 2016 | Lilly Award in Trailblazing | Mia Katigbak[8] | Actor | |
| 2015 | Legendary Lilly Award | Chita Rivera | Actor | |
| 2015 | Lilly Composer Award | Composer | ||
| 2015 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Daryl Roth | Producer | |
| 2015 | Lilly Award in Playwriting | Lisa D'Amour | Playwright | |
| 2015 | Leah Ryan Prize | Boo Killebrew | Playwright | |
| 2015 | Lilly Award for Working Miracles | Shakina Nayfack | Actor, artistic director | |
| 2015 | Lilly Award in Acting | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | Actor | |
| 2015 | Miss Lilly Award | Jim Nicola | Artistic director | |
| 2015 | Mizz Lilly Award | Linda Chapman | Artistic director | |
| 2015 | Stacey Mindich "Go Write A Play" Award | Heidi Schreck | Playwright | |
| 2015 | Lilly Award in Choreography | Graciela Daniele | Choreographer | |
| 2015 | Lilly Award for Distinguished Service to Playwrights | Deidre O'Connell | Actor | |
| 2014 | Lorraine Hansberry Award | Actor | ||
| 2014 | Lilly Award in Playwriting | Actor | ||
| 2014 | Lilly Award in Lyric writing | Lyricist | ||
| 2014 | Lilly Award for Composing | Composer | ||
| 2014 | Lilly Award for Music Direction | Mary-Mitchell Campbell | Music director | |
| 2014 | Lilly Award for Performance | Kelli O'Hara, Johanna Day, Rebecca Naomi Jones | Actor | |
| 2014 | Lilly Award for Producing | Susan Bernfield | Producer | |
| 2014 | Lilly Award for Directing | Liesl Tommy | Director | |
| 2014 | Lilly Award for an Agent | Joyce Ketay | Agent | |
| 2014 | Leah Ryan Prize | Jen Silverman | Playwright | |
| 2014 | Stacey Mindich "Go Write A Play" Award | Neena Beber | Playwright | |
| 2014 | Miss Lilly Award | Todd London | Artistic director | |
| 2014 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Winnie Holzman | Dramatist & screenwriter | |
| 2013 | Lilly Award Commission | Tanya Barfield | Playwright | |
| 2013 | Leah Ryan Prize | Jiehae Park | Playwright | |
| 2012 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Playwright | ||
| 2012 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Leslye Headland | Playwright | |
| 2012 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2011 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2011 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2011 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Melissa James Gibson | Playwright | |
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Liz Duffy Adams | Playwright | |
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Deborah Zoe Laufer | Playwright | |
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting & Directing | Playwright & Director | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Playwriting | Playwright | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Advocacy | Emily Morse | Artistic Director | |
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Design | Designer | ||
| 2010 | Lilly Award for Directing | Director | ||
| 2010 | Lifetime Achievement Lilly Award | Composer, author, screenwriter |