The event featured excerpts from Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals, introduced by their authors and performed by their stars.
John Guare was the master of ceremonies and presented the Guild's awards for 2006-2007. The winners included Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, recipients of the 2006 Hull-Warriner Award, the only award given by dramatists for a dramatic work, for their musical Spring Awakening; Scott Frankel, recipient of the Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition, presented to the best Broadway score of the previous year, for his score to Grey Gardens; Ed Bullins, recipient of the Flora Roberts Award, named for the much-loved agent and champion of dramatists and awarded in recognition of distinguished work and continued excellence in the theatre; and Horton Foote, recipient of the Dramatists Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The Guild, along with the Educational Foundation of America, also presented the inaugural Wasserstein Prize to playwright Linda Ramsey.
Heidi Ettinger, longtime friend of Wendy Wasserstein, presented the award, which will be given annually for at least the next five years "to an accomplished and promising young female writer who has not yet received national attention and who will benefit from this exposure and encouragement."
The theme of the evening's show was "The Right Number at the Right Moment." Performances were by Raul Esparza, introduced by Stephen Sondheim and accompanied by Paul Ford, performing a medley of songs, both discarded and retained, from Company; the cast of [title of show], Hunter Bell, Heidi Blickenstaff, Susan Blackwell, Jeff Bowen and Larry Pressgrove, performed "Nine People's Favorite Thing"; Erin Davie and Matt Cavenaugh, accompanied by composer Scott Frankel, performed "Daddy's Girl" from Grey Gardens; Kristin Chenoweth, introduced by Sheldon Harnick and accompanied by Rob Berman, sang "What Makes Me Love Him?" from The Apple Tree; John Gallagher, Jr. and Phoebe Strole, introduced by Steven Sater and accompanied by composer Duncan Sheik, performed "Don't Do Sadness"/"Blue Wind" from Spring Awakening; and Debra Monk and company, introduced by Rupert Holmes, performed "It's a Business" from Curtains.
All money raised benefit the Dramatists Guild Fund, a not-for-profit organization, conceived to assist dramatists in need, to support theatres in need, and to nurture new, emerging playwrights through a variety of educational programs.
