Musical Theatre Writers Peter Mills and Barry Wyner Win 2010 Kleban Prize

By Adam Hetrick
15 Apr 2010

Illyria songwriter Peter Mills and Calvin Berger writer Barry Wyner have been named the 2010 recipients of the Kleban Prize in Musical Theatre, which will be presented June 21 in Manhattan.

Mills received the honor for most promising musical theatre lyricist, while Wyner has been named the most promising musical theatre librettist. New Dramatists administers the prize, which presents each writer with $100,000 (paid in two-year installments). The Kleban board changed the name of the award this year, from the Kleban Award to the Kleban Prize.

The 2010 judges for the Kleban Prize were Tony nominee Craig Carnelia (Working, Sweet Smell of Success, Is There Life After High School?), Dramatists Guild Fund grants administrator Susan Drury and librettist Jeffrey Sweet (Luv, I Sent a Letter to My Love).

Mills has penned music and lyrics for Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge, Illyria, The Alchemists, Lonely Rhymes, The Rockae and Honor. He wrote lyrics for Iron Curtain and co-wrote The Flood with Cara Reichel.

Wyner penned book, music and lyrics for Calvin Berger, which recently played the George Street Playhouse. His musicals also include Sugar Plum, Something to Say and Stop.

The Kleban Foundation was established in 1988 under the will of Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Chorus Line lyricist and book writer Edward L. Kleban. The will made provision for two annual awards, each in the amount of $100,000 payable over two years, to be given "to the most promising lyricist and librettist in American Musical Theatre."