Denzel Washington to Receive New Dramatists' Distinguished Achievement Award

Denzel Washington, the Tony- and Oscar-winning star who is slated to return to Broadway this week in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, will be honored with the 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award by the New Dramatists organization. Washington will receive the award at the New Dramatists' annual luncheon on May 15 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

"Mr. Washington has earned his career status through hard work and excellence," said Emily Morse, artistic director of New Dramatists. "He's a professional actor who continues to pursue artistic and career challenges, like undertaking the plays of August Wilson, an alumnus of New Dramatists, and Eugene O'Neill, for example, and it's his fearless risk-taking that connects him to what the playwrights working at New Dramatists and the collaborators who support their processes seek every day. He is a respected, consummate artist, and for this reason we wish to honor him at this year's luncheon."

Washington is a Tony winner for Fences who was last seen on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun. His other Broadway appearances have included turns in Checkmates and Julius Caesar. Washington is an Oscar winner for Glory and Training Day.

Each year, New Dramatists salutes individuals who have made an outstanding artistic contribution to the theater community. Past luncheon honorees include Daryl Roth and Paula Vogel, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Susan Stroman, Seth Gelblum, Bernadette Peters, Roger Berlind, Julie Taymor, Horton Foote, Edward Albee, Harvey Fierstein, Chita Rivera, Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews, Glenn Close, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon, Jerry Herman, Terrence McNally, Barbara Cook, John Kander & Fred Ebb, August Wilson and Gwen Verdon.