This playwriting award, in its second year, bestows $25,000 on a dramatist whose work “seeks to plumb the ineffable nature of being human.” The award is named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Oscar-winning, and Tony-nominated playwright Horton Foote, who passed away in 2009. The first recipient of the award was Stephen Karam (2016 Tony winner for The Humans). This year’s award finalists were Clare Barron and Cori Thomas.
Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and was also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. His play Guards at the Taj was a 2016 Obie winner for Best New American Play and 2016 Lucille Lortel winner for Best Play. His Archduke is scheduled to receive its world premiere this April at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
The Guild previously announced Martyna Majok and Christopher Chen as the co-recipients of the Lanford Wilson Award, and Jeffrey Seller, Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and the cast of Hamilton as the recipients of the DLDF Defender Award.
The Dramatists Guild of America is the professional association of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists.
