Steppenwolf Theatre can now add the compound-adjective "Award-winning" to herald two playwrights in its 2009-10 season.
Bruce Norris and Tarell Alvin McCraney were two of three playwrights jointly awarded the first Steinberg Playwright Awards for writers "at various stages of their early careers." David Adjmi ( Stunning, The Evildoers ) was the third playwright awarded the honor Sept. 17.
Norris has had plenty of his works debut at Steppenwolf, including The Infidel, The Pain and the Itch and The Unmentionables ( his latest, A Parallelogram, is set to open in July 2010 ) .
Out playwright McCraney ( Wig Out!, Without/Sin ) makes his Steppenwolf debut this season with three plays under the billing of The Brother/Sister Plays. These are set to run in repertory in Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre from January to May ( they are also being separately produced at The Public Theater in New York and the McCarter Theater in New Jersey ) .
The Steinberg Playwright Award is set to alternate each year between honoring distinguished playwrights ( out scribe Tony Kushner was the first recipient last year ) and emerging playwrights. With the award comes a cash prize. Kushner received $200,000 in 2008, while this year Norris gets $50,000 and McCraney and Adjmi each get $25,000.
As reported in the New York Times, there was much debate within the Steinberg advisory committee about what constituted an "emerging" playwright. Interestingly enough, some of that debate came from committee members from the same theater.
Polly K. Carl, Steppenwolf's director for artistic development and former member of Minneapolis' Playwrights' Center, pressed for writers with maybe two or three major credits. In direct contrast, Steppenwolf artistic director Martha Lavey advocated writers who were considered more "mid-career." ( Other committee members included Andre Bishop of Lincoln Center Theater, David Emmes of South Coast Repertory, Oskar Eustis of The Public Theater, playwright Eduardo Machado of INTAR Theatre and Marc Masterson of Actors Theatre of Louisville. )
Ultimately, the prize was divvied up among three instead of two playwrights. The awards will be handed out at an Oct. 26 ceremony at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Compiled by Scott C. Morgan