The Lilly Awards
The Lilly Awards were started in the Spring of 2010 as an outlet to honor the work of women in the American theater. The founders of The Lilly Awards, or “The Lillys,” as we affectionately refer to them are: Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Theresa Rebeck. The awards are named for Lillian Hellman, a pioneering American playwright who famously said “You need to write like the devil and act like one when necessary.” In partnership with the Dramatists Guild, we have gathered our resources and conducted a national survey simply called The Count that accurately showcases which theaters are producing the work of women, and which are not. With our annual fundraiser and prestigious awards ceremony, The Lilly Awards Foundation is dedicated to carrying on Lillian Hellman’s spirit and are proud to continue to honor the work of women in the American theater.
The Lilly Awards Foundation is dedicated to developing and celebrating women artists by promoting gender parity at all levels of theatrical production. Currently, only 22% of the plays and musicals produced in America are written by women. We are eager to change the way decisions are made about production, by spreading the facts, like for example, that plays by women are as profitable as plays by men. In the Spring, we produce The Lilly Awards, a boisterous awards ceremony honoring a selection of women writers, composers, directors, and designers. In the winter, we conduct a Spotlight Series highlighting the work of emerging women artists, and we produce our celebratory Broadway Cabaret gala fundraiser. We run a Family Friendly Summer Colony initiative, which allows women to take their children along to the prestigious summer writing programs which are so vital to getting their work into the pipeline for major production. We initiated and are continuing to carry out The Count, a national study that answers the question “Who is Being Produced in the American Theatre?” The Count has been a game-changer in the conversation about parity, and we are very proud of that ongoing effort, in a partnership with the Dramatists Guild.
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