The Secret Garden and 'night, Mother author will be present for the entire four-day festival that will run April 13-16, 2011. Norman will be presented with the Inge Festival Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre Award.

"We are excited to have Marsha as our honoree," said Inge Center's artistic director Peter Ellenstein in a statement, "not just for her contributions as a playwright, but also for the incredible work she does with young writers and her advocacy for gender equity in the theatre. It is our great joy to introduce our festival audience to more of Marsha's work."

Norman earned the Pulitzer Prize for her two-woman drama 'night, Mother. She was also honored with a Tony Award for the book to the 1991 musical The Secret Garden. She also authored the books for the musicals The Color Purple and The Red Shoes.

Previous Inge Award honorees include Paula Vogel, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, Christopher Durang, Sheldon Harnick, Arthur Laurence A.R. Gurney, Stephen Sondheim John Kander and Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Peter Shaffer and Wendy Wasserstein.

The William Inge Theatre Festival is held at the playwright's alma mater, the Independence Community College. For more information on the Inge Festival and other Inge Center activities, contact (800) 842-6063, ext. 5492 or visit IngeCenter.