Playwright Mark Schultz Wins 2006 Kesselring Prize

Playwright Mark Schultz is the recipient of The National Arts Club's 2006 Kesselring Prize for Playwriting, winning the $15,000 prize awarded annually to a playwright of exceptional promise. Bruce Norris will receive the Kesselring's Honorable Mention, which comes with a $5,000 prize.

Now in its 26th year, the Kesselring Prize is awarded on the basis of nominations from theaters from across the United States and designed to honor playwrights who have not yet received prominent national attention. The nominated playwrights, in turn, submit a play of their choice to the Kesselring Prize committee for award consideration. Judges for the 2006 awards were playwright John Guare, playwright and performer Eric Bogosian and Lincoln Center dramaturg Anne Cattaneo.

Schultz, who was nominated by New York's Manhattan Class Company, submitted his play A Brief History of Helen of Troy. It was produced by Soho Rep to much acclaim last season under the title Everything Will be Different. He is a founding member and artistic associate of Theater Mitu, a member of Rising Phoenix Rep and co-coordinator of MCC Theater's Playwrights' Coalition. His winning play also won the 2005 Oppenheimer Award, presented by Newsday each year to a playwright making his New York debut. Schultz's other plays include, Last, The Place Where, The Nativity Sonata, Gift and Still. His play Passion was featured in Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope magazine. He holds an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University.

Norris, who was nominated by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, submitted his play The Pain and the Itch. Initially produced by Steppenwolf in 2005, the dark comedy is currently in previews at Playwrights Horizons with original cast member Jayne Houdyshell. Well-known in Chicago's theater community, Norris is the author of The Infidel, Purple Heart, We All Went Down to Amsterdam and The Unmentionables, all of which were commissioned and produced by Steppenwolf. The Pain and the Itch won the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work. Norris is also known for his work as an theater actor.

The awards will be presented on November 19 at a ceremony at The National Arts Club. The festivities will also feature a staged reading of one of Schultz's plays directed by Michael Parva, Artistic Director of The Directors Company in New York and resident director of the annual Kesselring Prize readings.