Individuals receive an unrestricted cash gift ranging from $5,000 to $12,500. The organizations receive money toward a musical theatre project in development.

The awards were presented in Manhattan Feb. 5 and the ceremony included performances of the work of past winners.

The winners this year were selected from over 150 applicants.

Composer, lyricist and writer Jim Bauer, in collaboration with his visual artist wife, Ruth, are currently developing The Blue Flower, a non-traditional music theatre piece set at the end of World War I and the beginning of the Weimar Republic. Jim Bauer is a member if the Weimarband, "for which he has written music that combines the 1920s Berlin cabaret music with the lyrical nuances of American country and western, in a style he describes as 'sturm 'n' twang,'" according to the Larson announcement.

Mark Campbell has written lyrics and libretti for traditional and nontraditional musical theatre, as well as opera, dance and performance art. His two short musicals, The Tell Tale Heart and A Hunger Artist received readings at New York Theatre Workshop. A production of Volpone, with libretto by Campbell, will play Wolftrap in 2004. Amanda Green is the daughter of actress Phyllis Newman and lyricist-librettist Adolph Green. She is a lyricist, songwriter and cabaret performer. She wrote lyrics and performed For the Love of Tiffany: A Wifetime Original Musical, seen at the Wings Theatre in 2003 as part of the New York International Fringe Festival. She is currently writing book and lyrics for High Fidelity, based on the book and film, with music by Tom Kitt. She is also working on a revision of her father's Tony Award-winning musical, Hallelujah, Baby!, with Arthur Laurents, for which she will write additional lyrics.

Obie Award winner Cynthia Hopkins has composed music for theatre and film projects, including Big Dance Theatre's Antigone, Shunkin and Another Telepathic Thing (for which she won an Obie). She also won the Obie for her work on Mac Wellman's At Jennie Richie. Hopkins formed the band Gloria Deluxe in 1999. She is currently working on a new operetta, Accidental Nostalgia, to be performed at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn in the spring.

Composer Gihieh Lee is a recent graduate of the NYU Musical Theatre MFA program. A native of Korea, she hopes to work in musical theatre in both countries. Her current projects include Tock Tick, with Tim Nevits, which was workshopped in 2003 under the direction of Graciela Daniele. She is working on two musicals with Aaron Jaffeirs, You Are Not Me, and Shakespeare: The Remix, plus a musical in Korean with Jong-Yoon Choi.

Raw Impressions Music Theatre "is committed to creating opportunities for artists to take risks and work with new collaborators." The company is known for its RIPFest in which musical theatre writers are paired and write a 10 minute musical in one week. The Larson Award will support their commissioning program.

Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington, is a leading producer of musical theatre in the Pacific Northwest. Each mainstage season includes new productions of three American musicals, including one new show that has been developed in the "Village Originals" program. The Larson Award is in support of a workshop production of Feeling Electric, a new rock musical about shock therapy by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt.

For more information about the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, which sponsors the awards in memory of the late composer-lyricist-librettist of Rent, visit www.jlpaf.org.