NEWS RELEASE
2006 RICHARD RODGERS AWARDS
THREE MUSICALS WIN COMPETITION
New York, February 28, 2006 -- Winners of the 2006 Richard Rodgers Awards competition for musical theater were announced today by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which administers the awards. The winners are:
GREY GARDENS by Scott Frankel, Michael Korie, and Doug Wright
THE YELLOW WOOD by Michelle Elliott and Danny Larsen
TRUE FANS by Chris Miller, Bill Rosenfield, and Nathan Tysen
Grey Gardens, the winner of a Richard Rodgers Production Award, will open at Playwrights Horizons, in New York City, on March 7. The Yellow Wood and True Fans won Richard Rodgers Awards for stage readings, to be performed by nonprofit theaters in New York City.
The intent of the Richard Rodgers Award is to nurture the careers of talented composers and playwrights, and to have their musicals produced in New York City. Former award recipients include Maury Yeston (Nine), Jonathan Larson (Rent), Julie Taymor and Elliot Goldenthal (Juan Darien), Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Lucky Stiff), and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley (Violet). Since 1980 fifty-nine works have been produced.
The winners of the 2006 Richard Rodgers awards were chosen by a six-member jury under the chairmanship of Stephen Sondheim, and included Lynn Ahrens, John Guare, Sheldon Harnick, Jeanine Tesori, and John Weidman.
The themes of the musicals which won this year's competition are diverse. Grey Gardens takes its inspiration from the Albert and David Maysles 1975 documentary film of the same name which explores the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie, reclusive mother and daughter living in a dilapidated 28-room mansion in East Hampton. It explores in song the idiosyncrasies and failed dreams of two lonely, eccentric women.
The Yellow Wood looks at the life of Adam, a 17 year-old skateboarder of Korean ancestry, who has attention deficit disorder. It tells the story of Adam's efforts to lead a life without his Ritalin medication, as he searches for his identity, while maneuvering his way through the maze of adolescence.
True Fans follows the adventures of three basketball fanatics, friends who bike from California to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, on $10 a day. Inspired by True Fans, a 1999 film documentary by Dan Austin, it chronicles the mishaps and adventures of an American journey.
Richard Rodgers, the first musical theater composer elected to the Academy, endowed the awards in 1978. The awards provide financial support for productions, studio productions, or stage readings by nonprofit theaters in New York City.
Biographies
Michelle Elliott (The Yellow Wood, book and lyrics) earned Masters degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Superior and NYU's Graduate Musical Theater Program. She was the co-founder and Artistic Director of Frontier Theater in Minneapolis where she wrote, directed, and produced musicals.
Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens, music) has written the music for Doll and Meet Mister Future with lyricist/librettist Michael Korie. As a conductor, music director, and pianist he has been associated with many Broadway productions.
Michael Korie (Grey Gardens, lyrics) wrote the book and lyrics to Doll and Meet Mister Future with Scott Frankel. He has also written librettos to four operas with composer Stewart Wallace; their forthcoming opera, The Bonesetter's Daughter, was composed in collaboration with novelist Amy Tan.
Danny Larsen (The Yellow Wood, music and lyrics) is a graduate of Brigham Young University where he received B.A. degrees in Music and Theater Education. He studied as a composer and lyricist at NYU's Graduate Musical Theater Program. He is the recipient of the American College Theater Festival Kennedy Center Composition Award.
Chris Miller (True Fans, music) is a graduate of NYU's Musical Theatre Writing Program. He is the recipient of a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation grant and an ASCAP Awards Plus grant. Mr. Miller and Nathan Tysen have collaborated on the musicals The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and The Burnt Part Boys and on an album of folk and cabaret songs, Point A. They have both directed musicals at the Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts, a performing arts organization for young adults, located in Florida.
Bill Rosenfield (True Fans, book) served as Dramaturg on London's Gate Theatre production of Hair. He is the author of the one act play Bridal Terrorism. As a recording executive he has been responsible for over 50 Broadway Cast Recordings, including, The Color Purple, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Chicago, Avenue Q, Caroline (or Change), Urinetown, The Last Five Years, Cabaret, Ragtime, and The Full Monty. He has received two Drama Desk Awards in 1992 and 2002 (one on behalf of RCA Victor), as well as a Mr. Abbott/SDC Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Theatre.
Nathan Tysen (True Fans, lyrics) has created the book and lyrics to the original children's musical Noah's Art with composer Ryan McCall. He has been awarded a Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation grant, a Darryl Roth Creative Spirit award, and an ASCAP Max Dreyfus award. Mr. Tysen and Chris Miller have collaborated on the musicals The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, and The Burnt Part Boys and on an album of folk and cabaret songs, Point A. They have both directed musicals at the Lovewell Institute for the Creative Arts, a performing arts organization for young adults, located in Florida.
Doug Wright (Grey Gardens, book) received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play for I Am My Own Wife. His play Quills received the Kesserling Prize and an Obie Award. He wrote the screenplay adaptation for Quills and co-adapted the screenplay for Memoirs of a Geisha.
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