The Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute
The Margo Jones Award
The Medal Committee is comprised of Deborah Robison for the family of Jerome Lawrence, Janet Waldo Lee for the family of Robert E. Lee, Alan Woods and Nena Couch (the Director and Curator of the Institute).
DAVID EMMES AND MARTIN BENSON
The Ohio State University Libraries and College of the Arts are pleased to announce that South Coast Repertory Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson have been named the recipients of the 2007-08 Margo Jones Medal. The award honors those who have demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere. Emmes and Benson have guided South Coast Repertory from a small touring company into one of the country's leading professional theatres, now approaching its 45th season and known world-wide for its development of new work for the stage. The award presentation will be made on May 1st at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, in conjunction with the theatre's nationally-renowned Pacific Playwrights Festival.
"Martin Benson and David Emmes have created a thriving theatre and a haven for new work by playwrights in the unlikely setting of a suburban southern California mall. With successes spanning four decades, they're clearly doing something right!" said OSU Theatre professor Alan Woods, speaking on behalf of the Margo Jones Medal award committee.
Producing Artistic Director David Emmes has received numerous awards for
productions he has directed during his SCR career, including a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for the direction of George Bernard Shaw's The Philanderer. He directed the world premieres of Amy Freed's Safe in Hell, The Beard of Avon and Freedomland, Thomas Babe's Great Day in the Morning, Keith Reddin's Rum and Coke and Neal Bell's Cold Sweat; the American premieres of Terry Johnson's Unsuitable for Adults and Joe Penhall's Dumb Show. Emmes has served as a theatre panelist and onsite evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts, on the Executive Committee of the League of Resident Theatres, and as a panelist for the
California Arts Council. After attending Orange Coast College, he received his BA and MA from San Francisco State University, and his Ph.D. in theatre and film from USC.
Artistic Director Martin Benson has distinguished himself in the staging of contemporary work, including the world premiere of Horton Foote's Getting Frankie Married- and Afterwards and the critically acclaimed California premiere of William Nicholson's Shadowlands. He has won accolades for his direction of five major works by George Bernard Shaw, including the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Award-winners Major Barbara, Misalliance and Heartbreak House. Among his numerous world premieres is Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize winning Wit, which he also directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Alley Theatre in Houston. Benson has received the LADCC Distinguished Achievement in Directing award an unparalleled seven times. He also directed the film version of Sally Nemeth's Holy Days using the original SCR cast. Mr. Benson received his BA in Theatre from San Francisco State University.
Under Emmes' and Benson's guidance, South Coast Repertory has premiered 103 plays and has given commissions to nearly 150 writers. Over 80 percent of new plays launched at SCR have gone on to subsequent productions at theatres across the nation, including all of the major resident companies in New York City. Their records of accomplishment in theatre make David Emmes and Martin Benson ideal recipients of the Margo Jones Medal.
Founded in 1961 by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the Margo Jones Medal commemorates pioneers of the American professional regional theatre movement. One of the first pioneers herself, Margo Jones supported and nurtured new plays at the theatre she founded in Dallas in 1947 including Lawrence and Lee's Inherit the Wind, William Inge's Farther Off From Heaven; and Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke. The pattern she created for developing theatre works is now a standard for producing new plays. Previous recipients include Lucille Lortel, Joseph Papp, Zelda Fichandler, Lloyd Richards, Jane Alexander, Al Hirschfeld, Ellen Stewart, Jon Jory and Andre Bishop.
The award, with additional support through a bequest by J. B. Tad Adoue III, has been administered by the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute at The Ohio State University since 1993. The Lawrence and Lee Institute, jointly administered by The Ohio State University Libraries and Department of Theatre, collects, preserves, maintains, and makes accessible research materials in the performing arts, with a primary emphasis upon live performance.
For further information regarding the 2007-08 Margo Jones Award, please contact Nena Couch at (614) 292-6614 or couch.1@osu.edu. Additional information on the award is available at the Margo Jones Award webpage: http://library.osu.edu/sites/tri/Jones.php.
On September 28, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, The Ohio State University Libraries and College of the Arts presented the Margo Jones Award posthumously to the playwriting team of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The award honors those who have demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, and who have encouraged the living theatre everywhere.
A highlight of the celebration was the reading of a scene from Inherit the Wind by noted actors Edward Asner and David Selby, directed by prominent director Gordon Hunt. Making the presentation were College of the Arts Dean Karen Bell, Theatre Research Institute Curator Nena Couch, and Theatre Research Institute Director Alan Woods. Joining in the festivities were many OSU and COTA alumni including Dr. Bernice Zahm and Lynn Dally; theatre, television and film professionals Richard Lewis, Fay Kanin, Hal Kanter, Susan Loewenberg, and Jayne Meadows Allen, among others; and family members and friends of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.
Standing: Alan Woods, Jenny Lee, Neila Lee, Jonathan Lee, Lucy Lee, Karen Bell, Nena Couch. Seated: Deborah Robison, Janet Waldo Lee, Joshua Robison.
The accomplishments of Lawrence and Lee include such long running and widely produced plays as Inherit the Wind, First Monday in October, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, and Auntie Mame. Lawrence and Lee were co-founders of American Playwrights Theatre, administered at OSU by emeritus Theatre faculty member David Ayers.
MARGO JONES AWARD RECIPIENTS
| Year | Recipient | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Lucille Lortel, White Barn Playhouse, Westport, Conn.. | ||||
| 1962 | Michael Ellis, Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope, Penn.. | ||||
| 1963 | Judith Rutherford Marechal/Mrs. Roy McGregor
Watt; University Award to George Savage, UCLA. | ||||
| 1964 | Richard Barr, Edward Albee, Clinton Wilder, Theatre '64,
New York City; University Award to Richard A. Duprey, Villanova. | ||||
| 1965 | Wynn Handman, American Place Theatre, New York
City; University Award to Marston Balch, Tufts. | ||||
| 1966 | Jon Jory, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven,
Conn.; University Award to Arthur Ballet, Minnesota, OADR. | ||||
| 1967 | Paul Baker, Dallas Theatre Center, Dallas,
Tex.; Workshop Award to George C. White, O'Neill Theatre Center. | ||||
| 1968 | Davey Marlin-Jones, Washington Theatre Club,
Washington,D.C.; Workshop Award to Ellen Stewart, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club. | ||||
| 1969 | Adrian Hall, Trinity Square Repertory Company,
Providence,R.I.; Workshop Awards to Edward Parone, Gordon Davidson, New Theatre for Now program. | ||||
| 1970 | Joseph Papp, New York Shakespeare Festival and Public Theatre, New York City. | ||||
| 1971 | Zelda Fichandler, Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.. | ||||
| 1972 | Jules Irving, The Forum (Lincoln Center), New York City. | ||||
| 1973 | Douglas Turner Ward, Negro Ensemble Company, New York City. | ||||
| 1974 | Paul Weidner, Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, Conn.. | ||||
| 1975 | Robert Kalfin, Chelsea Theatre Center of Brooklyn,
NY; Citation to AMOCO for its support of the American College Theatre Festival. | ||||
| 1976 | Gordon Davidson, Los Angeles Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum. | ||||
| 1977 | Marshall W. Mason, Circle Repertory Company, New York City. | ||||
| 1978 | Jon Jory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky. | ||||
| 1979 | Ellen Stewart, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, New York City. | ||||
| 1980 | John Clark Donahue, Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. | ||||
| 1981 | Lynne Meadow, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City. | ||||
| 1982 | Andre Bishop, Playwrights Horizon, New York City. | ||||
| 1983 | Bill Bushnell, Los Angeles Actors' Theatre, California. | ||||
| 1984 | Gregory Mosher, Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Ill.. | ||||
| 1985 | John Lion, Magic Theatre, San Francisco, Calif.. | ||||
| 1986 | Lloyd Richards, Yale Repertory, New Haven, Conn.. | ||||
| 1987 | Gerald Chapman, Young Playwrights Festival, New York City. | ||||
| 1988 | No award given. | ||||
| 1989 | Margaret Goheen, William Inge Festival, Independence, Kansas. | ||||
| 1990 | Richard Coe, critic emeritus, Washington Post. | ||||
| 1991 | Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., critic, editor. | ||||
| 1992 | Abbott Van Nostrand, publisher, Samuel French, Inc.. | ||||
| 1993 | Henry Hewes, critic emeritus, Saturday Review. | ||||
| 1994 | Jane Alexander, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts. | ||||
| 1995 | Robert Whitehead, producer. | ||||
| 1996 | Al Hirschfeld, theatrical caricaturist. | ||||
| 1997 | George C. White, the O'Neill Center. | ||||
| 1998 | James Houghton, the Signature Theatre Company in New York. | ||||
| 1999 | George Keathley, Missouri Repertory Theatre. | ||||
| 2000 | Eileen Heckart, award-winning actress. | ||||
| 2001 | Mel Gussow, author and cultural writer for The New York Times. | ||||
| 2002 | Emilie Kilgore, founder of the Susan Smith. Blackburn Prize for Playwriting. | ||||
| 2003-2004 | Christopher Durang and Marsha
Norman, Playwrights Program, the Juilliard School (special joint award).
| 2005-2006 |
Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, distinguished playwrights, teachers of playwrights, and mentors.
| 2007-2008 |
David Emmes and Martin Benson, South Coast Repertory.
| |
About the Award Itself
Founded by playwrights Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee in 1961, the Margo Jones Medal commemorates a pioneer of the American professional regional theatre movement. Margo Jones (1912-1955) supported and nurtured new plays at the theatre she founded in Dallas in 1947, including Lawrence and Lee's Inherit the Wind and Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke. The pattern she created for developing new plays is now a standard method for producing new plays in the living American theatre.
The Margo Jones Medal annually honors "that citizen-of-the-theatre who has demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, with a lifetime commitment to the encouragement of the living theatre everywhere." The Medal was endowed by a gift from Tad Adoue, a close associate of Margo Jones in Dallas, in addition to the major support provided by Lawrence and Lee.
"Theatre is the universal means of expression. It embraces all of the arts through which human minds seek to reach one another."
Jerome Lawrence, Robert E. Lee - November, 1986