The Harold & Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award, initiated in 1974, is the flagship award of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program. Today, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust continues the legacy of this award with the prestigious, Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Playwriting Award. The purpose of this award is to encourage college students to write for the stage by providing the opportunity for them to collaborate with actors, directors, and others through all stages of production, including rehearsals and performances.
The playwright and/or institution chosen for the National Student Playwriting Award may receive the following:
- A showcase of the play at the Kennedy Center as part of the KCACTF National Festival, with all expenses paid for the
playwright.
- The Kennedy Center will award the playwright a cash prize of $2,500.
- Dramatists Guild Award. The Dramatists Guild Award provides the playwright with Active membership in the Guild.
- Samuel French Award. Samuel French, Inc. may offer the playwright a contract for publication of the play, and will send the playwright royalties received for productions of the play worldwide.
- Professional Development Fellowship. The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will provide the award recipient with an all-expenses paid professional development opportunity.
- The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Award. ATHE will present an award of $100 to each theater department producing an original student-written, full-length play at each of the eight KCACTF Regional Festivals. Additionally, ATHE will present a cash award of up to $1000 to the theater department of the school producing
the National Student Playwriting Award recipient in a public ceremony during the KCACTF National Festival.
For other questions, refer to Rules and Procedures for the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program.
The playwright and/or institution chosen for the National Student Playwriting Award may receive the following:
- A showcase of the play at the Kennedy Center as part of the KCACTF National Festival, with all expenses paid for the
playwright.
- The Kennedy Center will award the playwright a cash prize of $2,500.
- Dramatists Guild Award. The Dramatists Guild Award provides the playwright with Active membership in the Guild.
- Samuel French Award. Samuel French, Inc. may offer the playwright a contract for publication of the play, and will send the playwright royalties received for productions of the play worldwide.
- Professional Development Fellowship. The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will provide the award recipient with an all-expenses paid professional development opportunity.
- The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Award. ATHE will present an award of $100 to each theater department producing an original student-written, full-length play at each of the eight KCACTF Regional Festivals. Additionally, ATHE will present a cash award of up to $1000 to the theater department of the school producing
the National Student Playwriting Award recipient in a public ceremony during the KCACTF National Festival.
For other questions, refer to Rules and Procedures for the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program.
Previous Award Recipients
2013 A Second Birth by Ariel Mitchell, Brigham Young University
2012 The Swing of the Sea by Molly Hagan, Ohio University
Runner-up The Transition of Doodle Pequeño by Gabriel Jason Dean, University of Texas at Austin
2011 Fallujah by Evan Sanderson, Boston University
Runner-up Cow Play by Matthew George, Yale University
2010 diventare by Jenny Rachel Weiner, Boston University
2009 House of Several Stories by A. John Boulanger, Texas State University
Runner-up Dearborn Americana by Christian Krauspe, Arizona State University, produced by Western Illinois University
2008 House Full of Letters by Kit Steinkellner, UCLA
2007 In the Sawtooths by Dano Madden, Rutgers Uiversity, produced by Boise State University
Runner-up Song of Miriam by Gabrielle Orcha, Boston University
2006 Social Darwinism by Angela Gant, Playwrights' Theatre of Texas Tech University
2005 Night of the Wannabes: An Exorcism by Justin C. Lee, Bloomsburg University
2004 Jasper Lake by John Kuntz, Playwrights' Theatre of Boston University
2003 Good Morning Athens! A Rock Musical, Book, Music and Lyrics by Sean Keogh, University of Wyoming
2002 Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler, Playwrights’ Theatre of Boston University
2001 The Lepers of Baile Baiste, by Ronan Noone, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University
2000 it is no desert by Dan Stroeh, Wittenberg University
1999 Lot's Daughters by Rebecca Basham, University of New Orleans, Louisiana
1998 Onionheads by Jesse Miller, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
1997 Carriage by Jerome Hairston, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia
1996 The Last Supper Restoration, Dan O'Brien, Middlebury College
1995 An' Push da Wind Down, Lisa Harper, University of Southern California
1994 Father's Prize Poland China, Shirley Sergent, University of New Orleans
1993 Prisoner, James A. Bell, Brigham Young University
1992 All That He Was, Larry Johnson and Cindy O'Connor, California State University-Fullerton
1991 A Warring Absence, Jody Duncan, California State University, San Bernadino
1990 The Art of Waiting, Rob Shin, Brown University
1989 The Lower Rooms, Eliza Anderson, Brown Unviersity
1988 Blue Collar Blues, Denise Kay Dillard, University of Minnesota, Duluth
1986 Nijinsky: God's Mad Clown, Glenn Blumstein, University of Iowa, Iowa City
1985 Dancers, Michael Grady, University of Arizona, Tuscon
1984 Excursion Fare, Dennis Smith, University of Oregon, Eugene
1983 Eleven Zulu, Patrick Sean Clark, University of Missouri, Columbia
1982 The Bulldog and the Bear, Richard Gordon, Clifornia State University, Fullerton
1981 The Cashier, Glen Merzer, Indiana University, Bloomington
1980 Going On!, Glenn Treibitz, William Paterson College, Wayne
1979 The Diviners, James Leonard, Jr., Hanover College
1978 The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, Lee Blessing, University of Iowa, Iowa City
1977 Sideshow, Rick Smith, Angelo State University, San Angelo
1976 Meg, Paula Vogel, Cornell University, Ithaca
1975 Conpersonas, Paul Stephen Lim, University of Kansas, Lawrence
1974 Medea: A Noh Cycle Based on the Greek Myth, Carol Sorgenfrei, University of California, Santa Barbara
1973 The Soft Touch, Neil Cuthbert, Douglass College, New Brunswick
2012 The Swing of the Sea by Molly Hagan, Ohio University
Runner-up The Transition of Doodle Pequeño by Gabriel Jason Dean, University of Texas at Austin
2011 Fallujah by Evan Sanderson, Boston University
Runner-up Cow Play by Matthew George, Yale University
2010 diventare by Jenny Rachel Weiner, Boston University
2009 House of Several Stories by A. John Boulanger, Texas State University
Runner-up Dearborn Americana by Christian Krauspe, Arizona State University, produced by Western Illinois University
2008 House Full of Letters by Kit Steinkellner, UCLA
2007 In the Sawtooths by Dano Madden, Rutgers Uiversity, produced by Boise State University
Runner-up Song of Miriam by Gabrielle Orcha, Boston University
2006 Social Darwinism by Angela Gant, Playwrights' Theatre of Texas Tech University
2005 Night of the Wannabes: An Exorcism by Justin C. Lee, Bloomsburg University
2004 Jasper Lake by John Kuntz, Playwrights' Theatre of Boston University
2003 Good Morning Athens! A Rock Musical, Book, Music and Lyrics by Sean Keogh, University of Wyoming
2002 Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler, Playwrights’ Theatre of Boston University
2001 The Lepers of Baile Baiste, by Ronan Noone, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University
2000 it is no desert by Dan Stroeh, Wittenberg University
1999 Lot's Daughters by Rebecca Basham, University of New Orleans, Louisiana
1998 Onionheads by Jesse Miller, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
1997 Carriage by Jerome Hairston, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia
1996 The Last Supper Restoration, Dan O'Brien, Middlebury College
1995 An' Push da Wind Down, Lisa Harper, University of Southern California
1994 Father's Prize Poland China, Shirley Sergent, University of New Orleans
1993 Prisoner, James A. Bell, Brigham Young University
1992 All That He Was, Larry Johnson and Cindy O'Connor, California State University-Fullerton
1991 A Warring Absence, Jody Duncan, California State University, San Bernadino
1990 The Art of Waiting, Rob Shin, Brown University
1989 The Lower Rooms, Eliza Anderson, Brown Unviersity
1988 Blue Collar Blues, Denise Kay Dillard, University of Minnesota, Duluth
1986 Nijinsky: God's Mad Clown, Glenn Blumstein, University of Iowa, Iowa City
1985 Dancers, Michael Grady, University of Arizona, Tuscon
1984 Excursion Fare, Dennis Smith, University of Oregon, Eugene
1983 Eleven Zulu, Patrick Sean Clark, University of Missouri, Columbia
1982 The Bulldog and the Bear, Richard Gordon, Clifornia State University, Fullerton
1981 The Cashier, Glen Merzer, Indiana University, Bloomington
1980 Going On!, Glenn Treibitz, William Paterson College, Wayne
1979 The Diviners, James Leonard, Jr., Hanover College
1978 The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, Lee Blessing, University of Iowa, Iowa City
1977 Sideshow, Rick Smith, Angelo State University, San Angelo
1976 Meg, Paula Vogel, Cornell University, Ithaca
1975 Conpersonas, Paul Stephen Lim, University of Kansas, Lawrence
1974 Medea: A Noh Cycle Based on the Greek Myth, Carol Sorgenfrei, University of California, Santa Barbara
1973 The Soft Touch, Neil Cuthbert, Douglass College, New Brunswick
Inside image: THE SWING OF THE SEA by Molly Hagan, presented by Ohio University