PEN America and the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater awards an American Playwright in mid-career with an outstanding voice working indisputably at the highest level of achievement. The award was developed to reflect Laura Pels’s dedication to supporting excellence in American theater as well as PEN America’s commitment to recognizing and rewarding the playwright’s literary accomplishment.
Larissa FastHorse, 2019 AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHT IN MID-CAREER
Judges: Craig Lucas, Jacob G. Padron, Condola Rashad
From the judges’ citation: “One of the remarkable things about Larissa FastHorse’s work includes her prolific output—17 plays in a little over a decade—as well as the range of her tales in contrasting tones and affect. Her abiding theme appears to be the making of modern families, bridging divergent communities, histories, languages, cultures. . . . FastHorse educates, tweaks, embraces, outrages and dances, sometimes all in a single scene. . . . She deserves to be much more widely known.”
History
2019 Larissa FastHorse
2018 Sibyl Kempson
2017 Tarell Alvin McCraney
2016 Young Jean Lee
2015 Anne Washburn
2014 Donald Marguiles
2013 Kirsten Greenidge
2012 Will Eno and Adam Rapp
2011 Marcus Gardley
2010 Theresa Rebeck
2009 Nilo Cruz
2008 Sarah Ruhl
2007 Naomi Iizuka
2006 Stephen Adly Guirgis
2005 Dael Orlandersmith
2004 Lynn Nottage
2003 Craig Lucas
2002 Tony Kushner
2001 Charles Mee, Jr.
2000 Suzan-Lori Parks
1999 Paula Vogel
1998 Richard Greenberg
Selection Process
Please note that any playwright, writer, or member of the theater community may submit a nomination for a Mid-career Playwright.