Held at the Marriott Marquis, the 60th annual New Dramatists luncheon will honor Foote with the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award. Foote is the first artist to be honored posthumously by New Dramatists. New Dramatists artistic director Todd London said in a statement, "In the fall, Mr. Foote accepted our invitation to be this year's honoree. Though we had not announced Mr. Foote as our honoree by the time of his passing, our board felt strongly about moving forward with the tribute. We are thrilled that members of Foote's family as well as members of his extended theatre family will be on hand to celebrate the life and career of this extraordinary American artist."

The annual luncheon salutes an artist who has made an "outstanding artistic contribution to the American theatre." Past honorees include Edward Albee, Harvey Fierstein, Chita Rivera, Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews, Glenn Close, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon, Jerry Herman, Terrence McNally, Barbara Cook, John Kander & Fred Ebb, August Wilson, George C. Wolfe and Gwen Verdon.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Foote died in Hartford, CT, on March 4 while putting the finishing touches on his ambitious Texas-set work, The Orphans' Home Cycle. The nine-play cycle will premiere at Hartford Stage later this summer prior to arriving Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre Company, Oct. 29, 2009-April 11, 2010.

A Pulitzer Prize winner for The Young Man from Atlanta, Foote's plays also include Dividing the Estate, The Carpetbagger's Children, The Trip to Bountiful, The Traveling Lady, The Chase, The Last of the Thorntons and Talking Pictures, among others.

Tickets, priced at $300, are available by calling (212) 757-6960. The Marriott Marquis is located at 1535 Broadway, between 45th and 46th Streets.