Margo Jones Award | Ohio State University Libraries

Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute

Margo Jones Medal

The Margo Jones Medal commemorates one of the pioneers 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 Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke and Lawrence and Lee's Inherit the Wind. The pattern she created for developing new plays is now a standard method for producing new plays in the living American theatre.

Members of the Medal Committee are Deborah Robison for the family of Jerome Lawrence; Lucy Lee, and Jonathan Barlow Lee for the family of Robert E. Lee; Beth Kattelman, Mara Frazier and Karen Mozingo for the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute.

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.

Margo Jones Award Recipients

Year	Recipient
2024	Idris Goodwin, Artistic Director, Seattle Children's Theatre
2023	Susan Booth, Artistic Director, Goodman Theatre
2020 - 2022	Award on Hiatus due to pandemic
2019	Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater
2018	Paula Vogel, Pulitzer-Prize-winning Playwright
2017	Lou Bellamy, Artistic Director, Penumbra Theatre Company
2016	Ricky J. Martinez, Artistic Director, New Theatre
2015	Emily Mann, Artistic Director, McCarter Theatre
2014	Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
2012	Tony Taccone, Artistic Director, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
2011	Anne Cattaneo, Dramaturg, Lincoln Center Theater
2009	Bill Rauch, Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
2008	David Emmes and Martin Benson, Artistic Directors, South Coast Repertory.
2006	Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, distinguished playwrights, teachers of playwrights, and mentors.
2004	Christopher Durang and Marsha Norman, Playwrights Program, the Juilliard School (special joint award).
2002	Emilie Kilgore, founder of the Susan Smith. Blackburn Prize for Playwriting.
2001	Mel Gussow, author and cultural writer for The New York Times.
2000	Eileen Heckart, award-winning actress.
1999	George Keathley, Missouri Repertory Theatre.
1998	James Houghton, Signature Theatre Company, New York
1997	George C. White, the O'Neill Center.
1996	Al Hirschfeld, theatrical caricaturist.
1995	Robert Whitehead, producer.
1994	Jane Alexander, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts.
1993	Henry Hewes, critic emeritus, Saturday Review.
1992	Abbott Van Nostrand, publisher, Samuel French, Inc..
1991	Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., critic, editor.
1990	Richard Coe, critic emeritus, Washington Post.
1989	Margaret Goheen, William Inge Festival, Independence, Kansas.
1987	Gerald Chapman, Young Playwrights Festival, New York City.
1986	Lloyd Richards, Yale Repertory, New Haven, Conn..
1985	John Lion, Magic Theatre, San Francisco, Calif..
1984	Gregory Mosher, Goodman Theatre, Chicago, Ill.
1983	Bill Bushnell, Los Angeles Actors' Theatre, California.
1982	Andre Bishop, Playwrights Horizon, New York City.
1981	Lynne Meadow, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City.
1980	John Clark Donahue, Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1979	Ellen Stewart, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, New York City.
1978	Jon Jory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky.
1977	Marshall W. Mason, Circle Repertory Company, New York City.
1976	Gordon Davidson, Los Angeles Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum.
1975	Robert Kalfin, Chelsea Theatre Center of Brooklyn, NY; Citation to AMOCO for its support of the American College Theatre Festival.
1974	Paul Weidner, Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, Conn.
1973	Douglas Turner Ward, Negro Ensemble Company, New York City.
1972	Jules Irving, The Forum (Lincoln Center), New York City.
1971	Zelda Fichandler, Arena Stage, Washington, D.C..
1970	Joseph Papp, New York Shakespeare Festival and Public Theatre, New York City.
1969	Adrian Hall, Trinity Square Repertory Company, Providence,R.I.; Workshop Awards to Edward Parone, Gordon Davidson, New Theatre for Now program.
1968	Davey Marlin-Jones, Washington Theatre Club, Washington,D.C.; Workshop Award to Ellen Stewart, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club.
1967	Paul Baker, Dallas Theatre Center, Dallas, Tex.; Workshop Award to George C. White, O'Neill Theatre Center.
1966	Jon Jory, Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, Conn.; University Award to Arthur Ballet, Minnesota, OADR.
1965	Wynn Handman, American Place Theatre, New York City; University Award to Marston Balch, Tufts.
1964	Richard Barr, Edward Albee, Clinton Wilder, Theatre '64, New York City; University Award to Richard A. Duprey, Villanova.
1963	Judith Rutherford Marechal/Mrs. Roy McGregor Watt; University Award to George Savage, UCLA.
1962	Michael Ellis, Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope, Penn.
1961	Lucille Lortel, White Barn Playhouse, Westport, Conn.