Excerpts from Ruined, Intimate Apparel, Nottage's upcoming By The Way, Meet Vera Stark and other works will be performed by Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In the Next Room, Ruined), two-time Tony Award winner Viola Davis (Fences, King Hedley II, Intimate Apparel), Kimberly Hébert Gregory (The Brother/Sister Plays), Russell Hornsby (Fences, Intimate Apparel), Tony Award winner Karen Olivo (West Side Story, In the Heights) and Condola Rashad (Ruined). Nottage received the Pulitzer Prize for Ruined. In addition to Intimate Apparel, the Obie Award winner's other plays include Fabulation and Crumbs from the Table of Joy.

The Steinberg Award is presented biennially by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. (The award is also known as the "Mimi" Award.) Tony Kushner received the award in 2008. The award "honors the artistic achievement of an American playwright whose body of work has made significant contributions to the American theater," according to press notes. It comes with a cash prize of $200,000, making it the largest award ever created to honor and encourage artistic achievement in the American theatre.