Playwrights Harrison, Eno, Groff & Gardley Receive Kesselring Awards

Four theater writers have been awarded prizes by the National Arts Club designed to support the work of extraordinary playwrights who have yet to achieve national recognition. Jordan Harrison will receive the Kesselring Fellowship formerly the Kesselring Award and Will Eno, Rinne Groff and Marcus Gardley will receive Kesselring Honors. In total, the Kesselring Fellow receives $7,000 of direct support and $14,000 of indirect support through development, and each Honoree receives $1,500 in direct support and an additional $2,000 in indirect support through development.

The Kesselring Prize was first presented by the National Arts Club in 1980, funded by Mr. Kesselring's widow, the late Charlotte Kesselring, and had a mission to highlight the work of emerging playwrights who had not yet received prominent national attention. Previous winners have included Mark Schultz, David Auburn, Melissa James Gibson, Tony Kushner, Nicky Silver, Anna Deavere Smith, David Lindsay-Abaire, Jose Rivera, Heather McDonald, Philip Kan Gotanda, Kira Obolensky, Tracey Scott Wilson and Marion McClinton.

Harrison's plays include Doris To Darlene, which begins previews at Playwrights Horizons on November 16; Act a Lady 2006 Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Finn in the Underworld Berkeley Repertory Theatre; The Museum Play Washington Ensemble Theatre; Kid-Simple 2004 Humana Festival, American Theater Company, Summer Play Festival; and Amazons and Their Men forthcoming at Clubbed Thumb. A graduate of the Brown MFA Playwriting program, he is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.

Eno's newest play, Oh, the Humanity...and Other Good Intentions opens November 29 at the Flea Theater, starring Marisa Tomei. His play Thom Pain based on nothing was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize. His play Intermission premiered at the Ensemble Studio Theatre's One-Act Marathon in June 2006. An excerpt of his play Tragedy: A Tragedy appeared in the June 2006 issue of Harper's Magazine.

Groff's musical Saved will be produced later this season at Playwrights Horizons. Her plays and musicals includeIn the Bubble, What Then, The Ruby Sunrise, Inky, Jimmy Carter was a Democrat, The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem, and Orange Lemon Egg Canary. She is a founding member of Elevator Repair Service Theater Company and a member of New Dramatists and Dramatists Guild.

Gardley's most recent play, Love Is a Dream House in Lorin, was nominated for the National Critics Steinberg New Play Award. His other plays include Dance of the Holy Ghost Yale Repertory Theatre and Limitations of Life Empty Space. His new play And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi will be workshopped by the Sundance Institute at the Public Theatre this fall. He teaches playwriting at Columbia University and University of San Francisco.