NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 19, 2026 – The American Academy of Arts and Letters announces the two recipients of its 2026 Richard Rodgers Awards for Musical Theater. Both winning musicals will receive funds toward their presentation at nonprofit theaters in New York City. The members of this year’s selection committee were David Lang (chair), Mindi Dickstein, Amanda Green, Michael R. Jackson, Richard Maltby, Jr., Rona Siddiqui, and John Weidman.
Richard Rodgers, who was elected to Arts and Letters in 1955, endowed these awards in 1978 to nurture talented composers and playwrights. Former award recipients include Jonathan Larson for Rent; Anaïs Mitchell for Hadestown; Jason Kim, Helen Park, Max Vernon, and Woodshed Collective for KPOP; and Will Aronson and Hue Park for Maybe Happy Ending. The Richard Rodgers Awards are the only awards administered by Arts and Letters for which applications are accepted.
Bludline: A Hip-Hop Odyssey by Fermin Suero, Jr., (book, music, and lyrics) and Pete White (book, music, and lyrics) reimagines Homer’s epic through live hip-hop and R&B as Trojan War hero Odysseus battles monsters and temptations to reach home, while his son Telemachus must find his own strength in the shadow of a father who may never return.
Penelope by Alex Bechtel (book, music, and lyrics), Grace McLean (book), and Eva Steinmetz (book) is inspired by the composer’s experience of being forced to quarantine in separate cities from his romantic partner during the COVID pandemic. This musical for one actor and a five-piece band uses folk-pop songs, irreverent comedy, poetic physical gesture, and stirring instrumental pieces to tell the story of a day in the life of Penelope of Ithaca, stuck waiting for Odysseus to return.
The Richard Rodgers Awards will be presented alongside the architecture, art, literature, and music awards at Arts and Letters’s annual Ceremonial in May.
Founded in 1898, the American Academy of Arts and Letters represents the highest standards of artistic achievement in this country, and our community of members are among the leading contemporary architects, visual artists, writers, and composers. Arts and Letters honors creative accomplishment through the election of members, the conferment of awards, and presenting public exhibitions and interdisciplinary programs at our historic buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
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