The 2004 gala, Wonderful Women/Wonderful Town, will be hosted by Frances Sternhagen, with 1991 honoree Susan Sarandon serving as the honorary chairman.
Past honorees include Diane Sawyer, Judi Dench, Camille Cosby, Twyla Tharp, Tina Brown, Evelyn Lauder, Barbara Walters, Annie Leibowitz, Maya Angelou and Whoopi Goldberg.
The four women selected for this year's honors are:
Women's Project & Productions bills itself as "the country's foremost theatre for developing and producing women theatre artists."
The troupe recently appointed Loretta Greco as the new producing artistic director, who recently directed The Story at The Public Theater.
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Founded by Julia Miles in 1978, Women's Project has staged 115 productions, over 400 readings and published eight anthologies of produced work by such distinguished writers as Maria Irene Fornes, Marlene Meyer and Anna Deavere Smith. Its roster of respected directors includes Anne Bogart, Julianne Boyd, Liz Diamond, Loretta Greco, Carey Perloff, Billie Allen, Emily Mann and Evan Yionoulis.
Women's Project programs include the Playwrights Lab and Directors Forum for emerging and mid-career artists, and the award-winning arts-in-education program, Ten Centuries of Women Playwrights.
The gala's cocktail reception begins at 7 PM, with dinner and the awards presentation at 8 PM. Tickets for the Gala are $500, $750 and $1,000 and are available by calling (212) 765-1706, ext. 203.