Award to Author: Sam Shepard
Award to Producers: Frederick Zollo, Nicholas Paleologos, Jane Harmon, Nina Kenneally, Gary Sinise, Edwin Schloss, Liz Oliver.

Sam Shepard has won eleven Obie awards for many of his plays, including Chicago, The Tooth of Crime, Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child and Fool for Love. Buried Child won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979. The current production has been substantially re-written. He has worked in film as a screenwriter, director and actor, appearing in such films as Days of Heaven and The Right Stuff. Mr. Shepard has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Theatre Hall of Fame.

MASTER CLASS

Award to Author: Terrence McNally
Award to Producer: Robert Whitehead, Lewis Allen, Spring Sirkin

Terrence McNally received the 1995 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play for Love! Valour! Compassion! He previously won a Tony Award for the book of Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1993. His many critically acclaimed plays, including Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Lisbon Traviata and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, have been produced extensively off Broadway and in regional theatres throughout the country. He is the vice president of the Dramatist Guild. RACING DEMON

Award to Author: David Hare
Award to Producer: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten.

David Hare has written 15 plays for the stage and seven original screenplays for cinema and TV. Among them have been Slag, Plenty, A Map of the World, The Secret Rapture, The Rules of the Game and Galileo. He has received many awards for his work both in England and the United States, including the 1985 Golden Bear in Berlin for Best Film.

SEVEN GUITARS

Award to Author: August Wilson
Award to Producer: Sageworks, Benjamin Mordecai, Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, Gordon Davidson, Herb Alpert/Margo Lion, Scott Rudin/Paramount Pictures, Jujamcyn Theaters, Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club.

August Wilson first became involved in the theatre in the late 1960's when he co-founded Black Horizon's, a Pittsburgh community theatre. His first play to receive recognition was Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which also marked the beginning of his association with Director Lloyd Richards. In subsequent plays, Mr. Wilson has continued to explore the heritage of African Americans over the course of the Twentieth century. His plays have received many awards and grants and he has recently been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.