The awards event kicks off the O'Neill Foundation's 9th annual O'Neill Festival, which will focus on Robeson's work in O'Neill's "The Emperor Jones” and "All God's Chillun Got Wings." Highlights of the festival will include a screening of "The Emperor Jones" as well as a performance of the play. The 9th annual festival runs through Sept. 21.

Robeson starred in the premiere London staging and subsequent Broadway revivals of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat. "Ol' Man River," originally penned with Robeson in mind, would become his signature song. His stage credits also include Black Boy, John Henry and Othello. In addition to his stage work, Robeson was a tireless civil rights activist. He died Jan. 23, 1976 at the age of 77.

Recipients of the Tao House Award include Jason Robards, Paul Libin, Theodore Mann, Arthur Gelb, Barbara Gelb, Cherry Jones and Robert Brustein.

The O'Neill Festival is held at the Tao House estate in Danville, CA. O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning dramas, Long Day's Journey Into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten, were penned at Tao House.

For further information visit eugeneoneill.org.