 Yeah, this is a fun event. Yeah, proud board member of the Lily Awards Foundation. Yes, and on behalf of all the lilies, welcome to the eighth annual Lily Awards, AKA the best night of the year. You may have noticed that I'm not Marcia Norman. The fact is Marcia fell and she fractured both her hands and her shoulder. I know, it sucks, but she is okay and recuperating at home. She asked me to tell you that she wants you all to feel very sorry for her and to send flowers. She prefers caramel to chocolate. First of all, we wanna thank Tim Sanford and Playwrights Horizons for letting us come back home. Yeah. It is incredibly fitting and joyous to be here on the set of Bella written by our beloved Kirsten Childs. Music, lyrics, and book. Is Kirsten here? Kirsten, are you here? She's home rewriting. Okay, she's in previews, right? Fourth preview. And as always, we have all tonight's winners on the stage and we are proud to welcome back all these previous Lily Award winners. And now I'd like to introduce one of those previous winners to start us off. She is an actor, director, writer, producer, and activist known for her memorable performances in over 25 films, 100 TV projects including the Sister Act films, Hocus Pocus, Pixar's Oscar and Gold Globe winning Wally. She has voiced Peggy Hill for 14 Seasons on the Emmy Award winning King of the Hill. She currently has recurring roles on Veep, Younger, and Graves. As a theater actress, she has won OV, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Best Actress Awards. She created an idea for a play about Gloria Stein, which is set to workshop in New York City this year. Yes, very exciting, very exciting. As well as being a co-creator on a series about Ms. Magazine and the Women's Movement for TV. She is set to reunite, this is really exciting, this year with Mo Gaffney for performances of their long running award winning groundbreaking feminist hit play, The Kathy and Mo Show. This fine woman is a proud lifelong feminist and social justice advocate last year in addition to winning a Lily Award. She was also voted Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year. I am honored to call her my friend. Please welcome the goddess, Kathina Jimmy. I have such a crush on Amanda Green, don't you guys? You know, what to do with those feelings? It's like a ABC after school special. I have to go home and write in my diary. Speaking of writing, I was gonna be a little late because I was finishing up the final touches on my new children's book called James Comey and the Giant Impeach. Oh! This is what I did there. Usually when someone, I'm just really here to introduce because I was lucky enough to get one last year, which was one of my favorite, I'm gonna say it was my favorite night of the year last year. This is the best award show ever, yes? Yes! The Thieves and Women. When someone usually intros someone, they generally follow a format. They list a plethora of the speaker's accomplishments and the awards they've won, like for instance, an OB or a Tony award-winning world-changing might for mind-blowing off-roadway plays maybe called Bridge and Tunnel or Sell By Date, which is going to the Geffen in LA if you didn't see it in New York. Get a jet blue ticket and see it. Or they list memorable television and film appearances or that this person has a very important and hilarious podcast, Play Date with Sarah. I mean, just the list goes on and on, blah, blah, blah. Or maybe that they're the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, their heart achingly beautiful and smart. But the interesting thing about Sarah Jones is that when people say the phrase needs no introduction, she really does not need an introduction. When she walks up to the podium, you, my dear, Labia Lilies will see and feel the enormity of her presence and ferocity and commitment and a standing in-person example of a life well-lived. A heart and capacity for empathy too big for this earth and all that will matter is that she is here now. My friend, actress, prophet, beautiful, gentle, bad-ass, Sarah Najimi Rodham-Jones. I think I put this on now. Let's do this. I don't know if you meant to, is it a cool song? It's like the Tin Man. Is that a lot of pop music? So sweet. All right, well, now I'm supposed to do a job, but really I just want to sort of, what's the word? Cabell, I don't know if that's right. My name is Sarah Jones. I am so pleased to be here. I'm a bit thrown and for those of you who do know me, I just bear with me a moment. I'm so excited to be here at the Lily Awards. Are you? It's really thrilling. Even before someone kind of gives you, you know, your gold medal. But what I wanted to tell you is that I'm so excited when they asked me to join this, would you look at the gathering of people on this stage and look at yourselves? And I was asked to be part of this sort of illustrious room of female goodness and the male goodness that understands the female goodness. I sort of thought, well, you know, these are some of the most important talents in the theater, full stop. And what could I possibly have to say that would sort of do justice, you know, to an evening like this? And I thought, well, perhaps, you know, a very sort of mellifluous sounding English accent might help things a bit. And then I thought, you know, I just have to get up there and just be myself. I just have to be myself. I have to, you know, because, I mean, after all the Lily Awards, the Lily Awards is all about championing the voices of brilliant women in their own authentic, right? Their authentic voices. And so I just have to stand here and talk the way I really talk. I do speak the Queen's English. I am from Queens, New York. All right, well, so I just had to do a little of that, but it is true that this is, as far as we know, my real voice. The jury is still out on that, but tonight I have the profound honor of getting to introduce many of these fabulous people behind me, and I can't handle an honor like that alone, so I have brought along a few friends. Okay, oh, good evening, good evening, everybody. Hi there, wonderful, hi sweetheart, okay. My name is Lorraine, give me a moment. Just, you know, in case I need to sit. Anyway, for all of you, I'm willing to stand here on the hip that's got the, so I won't go into it, but the point is, when it rains, believe me, you will understand later, but the point is I'm honored to be here. I'm here because of the girl, Sarah Jones, who you just met, and she's a very nice young black performer. Oh, you know, she calls herself black. Okay, well, you know, it's a political time. I don't want to say the wrong thing. It's such a beautiful, diverse community, the theater, and we like to honor everybody, so I just want to say, you know, it is an honor to be here, and I hope you enjoy the rest, and we'll see you throughout the evening, okay? Make sure you, what is it that the young people are saying now, you have to be woke. Good evening, my name is Nereva. I want to apologize because first of all, I think I'm responsible for Lorraine saying woke just now. She was overhearing me earlier because I'm Dominican American, well, I'm half Dominican, half Puerto Rican, all proud, but what I want to say is that it really is true, what Sarah Jones was just saying, that you know, if you look on the stage behind me, it is so important that women's voices are, you know, that we are the ones who make sure that women of all different backgrounds, all experiences, that we are center stage, and I really hope that's okay to say and everything, because like, I mean, I'm not trying to say that I'm going to be soliciting every single one of these women behind me to like, you know, get involved with my future projects, but just in case they would be interested, I thought I would mention it, but anyway, the point is that this is a wonderful opportunity for like-minded, you know, just these brilliant women who have these incredible creative talents who come together to support each other, and I am just so honored to take part in that, so I just want to say, I'm sorry, I'm a little bit nervous, I want to get nervous, I have to talk really fast. Okay, and I forgot my inhaler, so anyway, the point is that I want to thank all of you for everything that you do to support this, to be here, and muchísimas gracias a todos. If you didn't understand that, that's okay. We can talk about that later, and I thank you so much. Okay, bye, my name is Nereida, bye. I just want to say, my name is Bella, first of all. It's really my name, and when I found out we were going to be here on this stage, I was like, Sarah Jones, like, you think that like, the millennial generation thinks everything's like, all about me, but this really is all about me. Like, the show on this stage is named after me. That's actually not true, but my name is Bella, and I feel that like, as a young woman, and like a feminist, like the opportunity to, yeah. Like the opportunity to be here, like, at the like, Lily Awards is like, oh, amazing to me, and like, I'll just, I wanted to share with you guys that like, we are doing like this podcast, like Sarah Jones put her name on it, but it's like, all of us, like the characters, like she takes the credit and makes us come out and like, do all the work, and we get to interview guests, and I just feel totally like, kismet or whatever, that like, we're here tonight at the Lily Awards, and like, our next guest is like, another Lily, like Lily Tomlin, who's like a theater legend too, so I just feel like like, the Lilies are all conspiring right now to just like, make beautiful magic in the theater, and for me to like, get to be here in the midst of that is so amazing, I just wanna like, capture it really quick for Snapchat. Hi guys, it's me, Bella, and I am at the Lily Awards right now. I'm like, totally here with this like, oh, amazing audience, and we're about to like, celebrate all of these like, super rad women behind me. That was amazing, totes. Okay, thanks so much, and like, now we're gonna return to Sarah Jones, we'll miss you. Okay, so that, I think that I want to thank them for that, but who I really wanna thank is everyone here for letting me set what I hope is the right tone for, for the again, illustrious folks behind me, and our first award tonight will actually go to, this is, not only have I admired her, as Bella would say, for Eves, but she is the woman who created the single most profitable piece of entertainment in human history, let that sink in for a second, the stage musical of the Lion King. Right, can you just, I think that's a clap. I mean, Hakuna Matata indeed, so here to present a lily to Julie Tamor is the Tony Award-winning playwright, the incomparable David Henry Wong. Thank you, Sarah, and friends. So, before the Lion King, Julie walked the streets of New York and dreamed of puppets, no, not just puppets, and so much more. The first thing any of us saw was the green bird, and we knew even then that we were seeing a master in the making. Since then have come so many amazing works, Midsummer Night's Dream, films like Titus, Frida, and Across the Universe, and the next play you'll see directed by Julie is My Own and Butterfly, which we are working on now. However, I have to say that Julie has a problem. So few people know how generous, open, thoughtful, and caring she is to collaborate with. How hard she works to serve the story, as well as her fellow artists. And honestly, I think she doesn't get enough credit for that, at least in part, because she's a phenomenally successful artist who happens to be a woman. Can't really applaud that, you know. And so, for her unrivaled genius, her deep courage, her devotion to and badass defense of the sublimely, sublimely beautiful, we thank her for her inimitable contributions to our lives. We urge her to keep working night and day, which she does, and we present her with the legendary Lily Award. That's why you do this thing, because I'm working with David, and it's been, for a year now, so enjoyable to collaborate. And that's what this whole job is, everything about what we do in the theater and the rest of the arts, but this is mostly about the theater. And I'm just thrilled to be here. I'm thrilled. It's the 20th anniversary of the Lion King this year. And it's coming up. And again, I think when they asked, well, who would you like to have you give you this award? And Gloria Steinem has done it a lot, so, you know, for everybody. But it was David, because it, the thing is that half the people in this room are men. And whoever started this, it was really true. It's just, that's when we know we're okay. And I think when you stop having to think about it, is when you're really okay. And I feel at this point it's not time yet. It hasn't happened totally. But I have had the joy of working with such tremendous collaborators, such as David and other great, great, great writers, composers of both genders, and the next one and the next gender and the next gender and the next gender, that all I can say is thank you very much for this lovely, wonderful, important award that we keep saying, yeah, we just gotta keep at it. And if you've got something to say, you'll get it out there. That's what I believe thoroughly. Thank you. Well, for anyone who doesn't know, the lilies were named after the brilliant, groundbreaking playwright, Lillian Hellman. One of Lillian's most celebrated plays, The Little Foxes, has been beautifully revived this season by Daniel Sullivan at Manhattan Theater Club. And our next presenter stars as both Regina and Birdie. Regina, sorry, I do always do that. Anyway, I'm having a little shame bomb go off. This is the Lillian Awards. We have to have high self-esteem. It's very important. All right, let's do that again. I'd like to welcome to the stage the fabulous Tony-nominated Cynthia Nixon. Woo! No need for shame. We say Regina, we thought Regina would just be too much for people. Oh, everybody, hello. It is such a pleasure to be with you here this afternoon. I do, as Sarah said, bring greetings from the land of Lillian Hellman, i.e. the Samuel J. Friedman Theater on 47th Street. It might intrigue you to know that as we wait for the curtain to go up every night on The Little Foxes, our cast gathers around the table in the set's upstage dining room, holds hands, and together attempt to conjure Madam Hellman's spirit by making semi-tribal, semi-comical chantings of Lillie, Lillie, Lillie. To Hellman's voice and do everything we can to honor it and call it into being eight times a week. Yet we also, in our private moments, say silent individual prayers of gratitude that this is 2017, and Madam Hellman will be not be striding into the theater anytime soon to give us notes. There are no words for the terror we would feel, which is why I am delighted not to be giving my Lillie to this evening, to Lillie herself, but instead to Mandy Greenfield, a formidable woman of the theater to be sure, but one who inspires boatloads of love and only thimbles full of fear. Mandy Greenfield is a giant in every way but size. She is the current artistic director of the Williamstown Theater Festival. Previously, she was the artistic producer of stage one and two at the Manhattan Theater Club, two of the most revered enterprises in the American theater. At both institutions year by year, Mandy has maintained a perfect record of gender parity for both playwrights and directors. In one year at Williamstown, she programmed work by Martina Mayoke, Boo Killibrew, Haley Pfeiffer, Jen Silverman, and Sarah Rule. In all the years that she was at the Manhattan Theater Club, Mandy was a strong ally and support for me. And as a reader of plays, I always find her dramaturgical opinions spot on, and I cannot think of a more important skill for an artistic director to possess. I was privileged to appear in a play at Mandy's first summer at Williamstown, where I was both stunned by the ambition of the plays she selected and wowed by her outward calm, warmth, and groundedness when on the inside, she must have been having a summer long out-of-body experience, being so spanking new at running an institution as grand and historic as Williamstown. For always producing plays that mean something, the Lily Award for our very own Giant in the Theater goes to Mandy Greenfield. Hi, I can't tell you how meaningful it is to accept this award from a consummate leading lady, a great artist of the theater, a fearless artist of the theater, and my friend Cynthia Nixon, who is so brilliant in MTC's production of Little Foxes, you must go see it twice. She is extraordinary. I must also admit that this time of year, running the Williamstown Theater Festival is, I mean, just crazy, and I haven't had even a second to collect my thoughts and think about the meaningful transformative thing I was gonna say up here today to all of you that would emblaz in your minds forever the power and beauty of Mandy Greenfield, couldn't do it. I also happen to be going through assistant transition right now. For those of you who know me, I'm not uncommon phenomenon, but really poorly timed. And I guess what I learned is that my assistant must have been experiencing like the same level, my outgoing assistant must have been experiencing the same level of like chaos and pandemonium because she inadvertently sent me an email intended for my new assistant. And when I read it, I thought, well, that's a departing gift because in fact, she has written my remarks for tonight. I'm going to read you the email I inadvertently accepted as my remarks. Dear Eileen, thought I'd check in and see how it's going. I know those early days of assisting Mandy can be totes insane. She's soups intense. Okay, she's crazy, but don't use that word to refer to women who run cultural organizations because she has this whole thing about how crazy behaviors in men are respected, but in women, they're ridiculed. Whatevs just don't say she's crazy, but girl, she cray-cray. Since we didn't get to cover some of the more nuanced things about the job when I trained you last week, I thought it might be helpful to pass along a few things. Number one, be direct with her. That's how she rolls. If you feel afraid, go talk to that guy, Josh Martinez Nelson, or that soups-cool woman, Laura Savia. Mandy surrounds herself with the impressive people who make her seem way more talented than she actually is. The Williamstown Theatre Festival trustees are also an amazing bunch who have entrusted her with leading this company and have supported her every step of the way. They're also mad party animals, so if you need some help figuring out how to deal with her, they're always willing to help and drink. Number two, she rants. With no notice, she'll go off on V-passionate tirades about how we need more plays by women on American stages to counter the total collapse of human decency language dignity and sentience in our democracy. Don't worry when she does this. She is hundo-pee devoted to artistic excellence and will always put the best plays first. She just happens to think clearly that the best plays are largely by women playwrights. Number three, she cries a lot. This is one of those soups-intimate things that you, and perhaps only you, her trusted assistant will come to know. She seems like an ambitious, ball-crushing maniac, but actually, she's just a crier. Sometimes, her emotions are genuine. She genuinely feels lucky every day to work with such astonishing theater artists doing the hard work of making sense of the human experience. Sometimes, however, the crying just means she's hungry or hot. Order her some food or adjust the air conditioning, and she usually calms down. Basically, treat her like a pet and you'll crush it. Number four, the husband and kids. You won't see much of husband Matt as he has some crazy big job too, but make sure he always has a seat at every opening. He totes supports her and takes her work as seriously as his own. Okay, the kids, there are two boys, Gabriel and Ezra, serious Jewish mother situation. She totes worships these boys and will force you to watch videos of them playing cello and tennis while she delivers endless monologues about how brilliant and charming they are. Gots to admit they're pretty handsome devils, emphasis on devils. When they stop by the office, it's hilarious. They don't listen to her at all, LOL. Also, cozy up to the nanny, Michelle, without her, Mandy completely unravels and you don't want that. Think of Michelle less as the kid's caregiver than as Mandy's wife. Hashtag goals. The other thing she carries on and on and on about is how in our country, ambitious women are viewed as hideous monsters. Hills Clinton, am I right? And she's all about changing that. A year from now, when you're ready to move on, she'll completely melt down, but then she'll totes hook you up with a dope job if you kill it for her, just like her mentors and peeps did for her. She's got your back, girl. It ain't easy and it ain't always fun having hers, but as she would say, the work we create on stage is worth the struggle and the struggle is real. Text me if you need anything, have so much fun. And try to get yourself into the Lily Awards. Julia Jordan and Marcia Norman are serious badasses and it's totes the best, most meaningful evening of the award season. Good luck, the old assistant. Mandy, I, Mandy. Mandy, I just wanna say I'm so sorry I sent you that email. I was like, totes a slip. My bad, totally not intentional. And you gave it the most amazing reading just now. Seriously, this is Sarah Jones talking. That was everything. And wow. And speaking of everything and people we love under all kinds of amazing circumstances, to present the Lily Awards in acting, I'd like to welcome the dazzling star of Sarah rules, how to transcend a happy marriage and Mandy's, Mandy's Williamstown production of the Rose Tattoo, the Academy Award-winning Fabulousity herself, Marissa Tomei. What a fantastic year for Divas on Broadway. Patty Lepone, Christine Ebersol duking it out eight times a week in more paint. Sally Field fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing Amanda Wingfield. Glenn Close is back as Norma Desmond 20 years after she first played the part. Which is better than ever. And Laurie Metcalf has found a whole new Nora in a doll's house part two. Lily winner Joanna Day is in sweat. The women have been decent. And of course, bet, dolly, enough said. As wonderful as it is to see our beloved legends on stage where they belong. The amount of fresh talent making their mark on Broadway for the first time this season is just so exciting. So, we would like to celebrate those breakthrough performances, the future bets and patties and sallys who are more than making a name for themselves this season. First, Denae Benton who is currently making her luminous Broadway debut as Natasha and Rachel Chavkin's astonishing and imaginative Natasha Pierre in the great comet of 1812. Hi, thank you so much. This is an incredible honor. This is the season of honors, awards and recognition. It has been thrilling and slightly exhausting because we still have to do shows. But I have to say that being honored by a group of women made my heart smile particularly wide. It's because I understand that every single woman in this room has a unique story of having to demand space for themselves in this industry and in this world. Something that the role of Natasha has taught me is 100% worth doing. It reminds me of a quote from the great late Shirley Chisholm. If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. I particularly love women in the theater because we're loud. We're loud about that folding chair. We are loud enough to create, to invest our money, and to stand center stage and take up space and use our voices in a world that is constantly trying to silence us. I was often afraid that there wouldn't be space for someone like me in the theater. A black girl who desperately wanted to be center stage but couldn't belt out home from the whiz to save her life. Afraid that no one would want to hear the sound of my voice and see the color of my skin in the same place. Afraid that no one would want to see me as the girl in the beautiful lighting and the corset. Playing the role of Natasha has shown me that when you shine brightly, boldly, and unapologetically as who you are, the world cannot help but make room for you. I will be forever thankful to Rachel Chafkin, the fearless captain of our comet ship, for seeing past the boxes the world had created for me in order to see my soul and what it has to give. I'm also forever indebted to two very important women in my life, my mom and my aunt, who are here. Uh, ha, ha, ha. And they always demanded that I saw my worth even when I doubted it. Here's to an incredible Broadway season of women living out loud, and I'm so honored to accept this award and to be a part of this community of paradigm shifters. Thank you. Next, Beanie Feldstein, a lifelong musical theater nerd, and Bet Midler Fanatic, who is currently making her Broadway debut in the role of Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly. So this beautiful event is all about honoring women in theater, and I wanted to start by honoring the woman that taught me everything I know about theater. Her name is Ann Guessling, and when she comes to see me in Hello, Dolly in July, it will be only her second trip to New York ever. I met Ann when I was seven, and I walked into the Morgan Wixen Theater, a community theater on Pico Boulevard in San Monica. I was auditioning for Fiddler on the Roof, and all I wanted was to be one of Tevia's youngest daughters who like carries logs and tells Golda that Hoppa's in the barn. And instead, Ann put me on a table and had me singing Fiedga's solo into life. It's a long story, but it was amazing. I performed at the Morgan Wixen my entire life, and in those 11 years, Ann taught me not only but she encouraged me and demanded me to be my best, and she never accepted excuses. She didn't just teach me how to perform. She showed me that at the end of the day, theater is all about community. And in the 15 years and counting, she has directed, musically directed costume design produced at this theater. She built this gorgeous community, and she never earned a cent. She just did it because she loved it. And she's given her heart and time to that theater in a way that inspires me every day. To me, she is the epitome of womanhood. She is strong and capable, and she embodies what this theater community is, which is warm and inclusive. And I wouldn't be here without her, so I thought this was the perfect event to just honor her. And she's back in LA, but I give all my love to her. There are a couple more people I want to thank. Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Jerry Zaks, Warren Carlyle, Andy Einhorn for making me their Minifay. I'm so honored. Tibet and David for leading our ship with such kindness and making us laugh until it hurts physically. Thank you. And I would be nowhere without Gavin, Kate, and Taylor, who's here today, who are my rocks. They're my partners in crime, and I love them so much in our entire company. And last, I just want to thank my mom, because I never doubted for a moment that I could do this. And that is all because of her. She is unwavering the day before my dolly audition. She ran lines with me for hours. She's not an Irene Malloy, but she did it anyway. She's much more of a friend dresser, so you can only imagine. I just love them so much. And I'm so insanely grateful to stand up here with these brilliant women. And thank you to the Lilly Awards. This is great. Thanks. And now Madison Ferris, who made her Broadway debut as Laura in Sam Gold's Raw and Thought Provoking Revival of the Glass Menagerie. Hello. Great. I just wanted to stay as close to Julie Tame as possible. I just, I didn't feel like going anywhere. I'm so speechless, and that's a rare occurrence for me. I've never been given an award my entire life, and I can't think of a perfect place to start. In fact, it could probably end here, and I'll be happy. I just got to say that it is a true honor to be here and a privilege to be among so many fiercely talented women. Some of you, I grew up watching your work on screen and on stage. And some of you, I studied in college. And some of you, I've practiced your work in acting workshops. Yet all of you have changed the landscape of theater for the better, expanding the practices of inclusivity and the stories of women on stage. And for that, I am so very grateful and so truly humbled to be among all of you. And I was wondering today on my way here how I was able to be on this stage, and I was thinking, who are the women in my life that I have to thank? And it has to be my aunt Dee, who has been there for me from the very beginning. She's driven me to every audition and to my college audition, and my cousin who actually took her place to help me get to audition in front of Sam Gold. I was so nervous. I was shaking. I had to ask her to go to the pharmacy to get me some pet domes this small for reasons we do not need to get into. But my life has been filled with strong women, my mother, and my dad, as well, who's not a woman. But he has always supported me and told me I can be whatever I wanted to, which was just wonderful to have in my life. And I could not have done it without you. Thank you so much. First of all, I want to say good evening to everybody. I'm inspired by the last person who used this microphone. I figure I'm going to try my shot, you know what I'm saying? And I'm inspired by everything up here. You know what I'm saying? My name is Rasheed. I'm saying I'm not a lily lady or nothing like that. But I respect everything that's going on right now. You know what I'm saying? It's real beautiful. I know this is women's, the whole thing. But like somebody said, it's a lot of dudes in the audience and everything. And Savage Jones be making me come out here and do this type of thing. I'm not really a no theater dude. I'm really more like hip hop. I'm a hip hop artist. I mean, some of y'all might not really be into it. But the first way y'all can know I'm a MC. It's because I hold the microphone in an official MC posture. Y'all can see that right there. That's a dead giveaway right there. But my point is that I'm saying like, yeah, y'all very astute. But my point is the arse move everybody. Don't matter what your background. Don't matter if you sound like real proper actors, everybody up here, they all got their act of education or that. My education a little bit different, you know what I'm saying? It's a little bit more informal. But that don't mean I don't feel the theater or that. Savage Jones be taking me to different theater and all that. And I wanted to say something right quick because, y'all, you know what I'm saying? It's real beautiful right here. It's a little bit of tear in my eye and all that. So I'm saying like, part of the reason I wanted to come up here right now is because one of the dudes that inspired me, I mean, so that, you know what I'm saying? Sometimes art could be a bridge to the next thing. You know what I'm saying? I'm maybe not going to go see Hello Dolly first off the bat, you know what I'm saying? That's not really going to be my first. That's not really going to be my first, you know what I'm saying? Introduction. But then on the other hand, you know what I'm saying? Because the inclusivity or whatever y'all been talking about up here. We do have playwrights and people that I could relate to maybe first, you know what I'm saying? And that's that, you know what I'm saying? Then it could be more like, you know what I'm saying? A progression or whatever have you. So my man is coming out here right now. His name is Ruben Santiago Hudson. I want y'all to know for a dude like me, that's my gateway to the rest of y'all up here. You know what I'm saying? And that's really important right there. That's really important. That's real talk. So I just wanted to say my personals before I, you know what I'm saying? Bring the man out here. He a legend where I come from. You know what I'm saying? I'm saying like, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? It's like a thing I'm working on that. You know what I'm saying? But I'm nervous, you know what I'm saying? But the point is my dude right here, you know what I'm saying? Like August Wilson plays everything That's a bridge to young people that might not be interested. That's what I'm trying to tell you. And then that opened up the whole world. So you have a stage to look like this. So I just wanted to honor him real quick. And yes, I do realize it's very man-splaining for me to come up here as a man and then stand here all this time to introduce another man. But, but I know y'all women, y'all patient. Y'all y'all gonna get in there and wait with me. No, no, no, no. Don't be patient for real. Y'all see what happened. We can't, we need to win anyway. All right, what I'm trying to say is it's my great pleasure right now to bring to the stage the playwright, the actor, NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award winner and director of this year's brilliant production of August Wilson-Jitney, Mr. Ruben Santiago-Hushey. Well, well, good evening, good evening. As a product of a very powerful, amazing, strong, strong woman who basically taught me everything I needed to learn about being a man, I am in no more glory than to be in a room full of beautiful, intelligent, amazing, powerful women. Thank you. Thank you. I'm honored to be here. It's my great pleasure to present the Lily Award in costume design to Tony Leslie James. This season alone, she created the costumes that would come from away and August Wilson's Jitney, which I had the privilege to direct. I met Tony when I did Jelly's Last Jam in 1990 and then again East Texas Hot Links and then again Henry VIII and then again Finian's Rainbow and then again I finally hired her for Jitney. Tony is, she doesn't, she's not a costume designer. She goes in people's wardrobes, the character's wardrobes and dresses them. She puts their clothes on them. It's different than designing costumes. And when I was doing Jitney just off the script, Tony is from McKee's Port Clare in Pennsylvania. That's where my mother's from. That's where August Wilson is from. In 1977, Tony was doing exactly what the people and knew everybody in that play, intimately. And when we talked about characters like Sheely, the numbers man at walking and say, hey, how's everybody in here? Tony knew that man. She knew that he was a deacon in the church on Sunday, had a little bit of money in the car wash, probably had a few dollars in a little fried fish place on the corner and would do some part time work at the steel plant. So our conversation was, she would answer, I would say one thing, he's a deacon in church and he probably owns the car wash. So we knew that we were in the right area and that August would be proud of what we had done and it would be authentic. Because if there's anything that I think is really, really important about theater and needs to be specific and culturally specific and authentic, very authentic because that way we learn. That way we become closer. That way we become one when we learn about other cultures and accept them and embrace them. Tony is an expert at that, extraordinary at detail. Tony also designed, if you would call it that, the costumes for Scott's Burl Boys, Phineas Rainbow, Maureenie's Black Bottom and the iconic Broadway production of Angels in America. She is a director's dream. So for her attention to detail her devotion to the characters that she creates with her clothes, how she goes in that closet form, for her vibrant passion, the mistress of costume design goes to Tony Leslie James. I look good for 60s. And it says unfortunately, but I think fortunately, you know that Tony's daughter, beautiful daughter, Cosima Higgum is here to accept on her behalf and we're delighted to have you. I was hoping I was gonna say I look good for 60, but she has no hair, so that didn't really work. So I am personally just a humble fourth grade teacher, so I'm going to pretend, I'm going to go ahead and pretend you are my class that I was teaching social studies to earlier, how fond are each of you of New Amsterdam. But to my mom, on behalf of my mother, Tony Leslie James and our entire family, it is an honor to accept this Lily Award. The Lily Awards go beyond supporting women in theater and gender equality, but represents a shining example of how we as strong women can encourage everyone to stay woke and promote excellence in all aspects of our lives while affecting change in others. That the Lily Award was awarded to my mom, especially in that she has spent her entire life giving her strength, love, and excellence to our family, her students, and the industry. This award is dedicated to my late brother, Jett Durrell-Diam, and all the mothers around the world that have lost their children to gun violence. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the very first Lily Award in playwriting and the Lily's partner in establishing a new fund for childcare at New Dramatists. That's right, somehow valuing our children's lives feels so fitting to think about how important and integral that is to being a creative community. And I personally am honored to get to meet here today, the one and only, Sarah Ruhl. Thank you so much for having me back. What beautiful moving speeches and so honored to be included and so honored to be partnering with the Lily's on this endeavor with childcare. And I think that this year was an especially extraordinary year in terms of the work of women on New York stages and so we're celebrating. And the Lily Awards are my very favorite way of celebrating. I came here tonight with a speech that was addressing a critical gap between criticism and the work of women on New York stages. And then I started thinking about my mother this morning because this is so much about mothers and daughters. So I put aside a little bit my feelings of quiet rage that I've heard a lot from my friends and colleagues in the community simmering this year, which I think have been exacerbated by watching a man interrupt a woman thousands of times and then lie his thuggish way into the Oval Office. So there's that, but I'm gonna put that aside. I'll put it aside. And talk a little bit about my mother's relationship with the critics, which I think is instructive. So my mother has a phrase she learned from my plain spoken Norwegian Iowa grandmother. It's, we'll make our own fun. The Lily's are a perfect example of how to make our own fun. My mother's currently acting in a play I wrote for her called For Peter Pan on her 70th birthday. I wrote it as a gift for her 70th birthday, a way to fight back the ravages of time with the theater. My mother usually reads all the reviews for me because I can't bear to and because it would prevent me from writing the next play. Now that my mother is actually in one of my plays, I implored her not to read the reviews. She read them all. It's all right, she said, we'll make our own fun. 15 years ago, my mother was yelling at a critic in Evanston, Illinois on my behalf. I was waiting in an idling car for her wondering and ignorance what was taking her so long. As it turned out, she spotted a friend in a cafe. The friend introduced her to his date. My mother recognized the name. It was a reviewer, a woman incidentally, who had just panned my first professional production. The critic and man were on a first date after meeting in an internet chat room. My mother yelled at the critic, you savaged my daughter, that's just not the function of criticism. The critic smiled calmly at my mother and said, and I do think that's the function of criticism. Critics, beware the mother. She might ruin your first date. On one hand, I was mortified that my mother yelled at my critic. It didn't seem terribly professional. On the other hand, I was deeply proud of her. I'm so lucky to have a mother who brought me to the theater as a child who still wants to protect me, who has the phrase, that's not the function of criticism in her back pocket, and is not afraid to use it. I wonder if our community of women in theater can find ways to mother each other to occasionally call out the official record of our work and say, that's not the function of criticism, even as we also find ways to make our own fun. I think the best kind of criticism makes the play bigger rather than smaller and expands one sense of the possible. Multiple reviewers of many genders, races, sexualities, and perhaps most importantly, taste and art might someday review one play and discuss the work in a dialectic. This approach might give the lie to the mask of objectivity and reveal that elusive thumbprint taste which can be invisibly gendered. How can both artists and critic contain, as Whitman said, the multitudes? Both of us need imagination and empathy. Someday, maybe they'll even change the name of that theater review website, www.didhelikeit to www.didtheygetit. I want to thank all of you and celebrate the work of other women in the theater this year. You've inspired me, you've lit the way, and I have faith there will come a time when the public humiliation that every artist must endure will be spread out equally over both genders and will be leveled equally by both genders. And if that kind of equity does not in itself seem something to celebrate, let's celebrate how we get there by invoking our mothers, by refusing to shut up, and by making our own fun. Now I'd like to welcome to the stage our fearless leader, our co-creator in making all of this our own fun, Julia Jordan, founder and vice president of the Lillia Awards. In our audience tonight is Girl Scout troop 3484. And their troop leader, Gina San, who took a walk through Central Park and noticed that there were very few statues of women in there and a whole lot of statues of men. And on top of that, the female gendered pieces were fictional characters, mostly with wings on their backs. Not one was of a woman who had actually lived. There are in fact only five statues of historical women in the entire city and nearly 150 of men. So our intrepid scouts joined a movement called monumental women, started by the amazing Pam Elam, who has won approval to place bronzes of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony at the West 77th Street entrance of the park. Our scouts have raised almost $2,000 from their cookie sales for the effort and have been known to march through the park with signs and chance to raise awareness. They have also written their own play. The Life and Times of Susan B. Anthony, a play in 10 acts. It is being directed by Maria Miley, which is pretty fancy, and will be presented on June 1st at the Domenna Children's History Museum. Will Avery, Charlotte, Caitlin, Lila, Phoebe, Pippa, Samantha, Sophia, Storie and Vita, and the amazing Pam Elam, please stand and turn around because our board behind wants to medal you. Put them on, put them on. Those girls, they're medals. For the women's march, I saw a photo of one of the five statues of women in the city, the bronze of Eleanor Roosevelt in Riverside Park. She was looking gorgeous in the morning mist, wearing a hot pink pussy hat. And a thrill ran through me and I remembered reading about your campaign and I thought those girls are onto something really, really important and that is what the lilies need to do. And so, you all have inspired us lilies to commission our own statue. In commemoration of the upcoming 60th anniversary of the great American play A Raisin in the Sun, the lilies are going to place a bronze of a Lorraine Hansberry in the theater district. Her quote inscribed, and this is a quote from Lorraine, never be afraid to sit awhile and think. The city is behind the effort and we are accepting donations. Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. I wish that were a policy mandate in Washington right now. Anyway, the lilies are a year round nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring and helping the next generation of female artists. I think we just saw several. And this could not happen without the support and generosity of our next group of presenters who have dedicated funds to ensuring our community continues to flourish. So I'd love to welcome now to the stage Jennifer Krasinski, Jennifer Agni, Stacey Mindich, Daryl Roth, and Joy Brown. Please come to the stage. After you all have bestowed grants upon, oh, isn't this exciting? There's kind of a, it's like one of those awards shows, The Voice or something. Better, of course, we're better, but you know, just want to text in your nights, very exciting, and there's the thrilling buildup, and okay, I'll stop. After the grants have been given, everyone will come together for a group photo without all of that texty business I just mentioned. Okay, so the first award and grant will be presented by Jennifer Krasinski of the Leah Ryan Fund for Emerging Women Writers. Yay, thank you all. This is such a remarkable treat. Again, my name is Jennifer, and I'm here on behalf of the board of the Leah Ryan Fund for Emerging Women Writers. We established this fund in 2008 to honor the memory of Leah Ryan, who was a wonderful woman of letters. She wrote plays, poetry, essays, lyrics, adaptations. She collaborated with performance artists. Since 2009, the fund has encouraged brilliant and unrecognized women playwrights with a cash prize, a reading here in New York City, a chance to stand on the stage at the Lilies, and very recently, we can now offer them a short residency up at Vassar College in the summer. This prize intends to perpetuate the integrity, the compassion, and the creativity that Leah herself possessed and inspired in others, and has hoped the few prize has been a very humble springboard, but a springboard nonetheless for some of the most remarkable women in theater, including Laura Marks, Megan Mossden-Brown, G. Hay Park, Jen Silverman, just to name a few. And I'm very pleased tonight to tell you that this year's winner is Susan Sunhey-Stanton for her play, We the Invisibles. The title is, of course, ironic. Susan couldn't be here tonight. She's in London on a job, but I am thrilled to be able to say her name aloud here at the Lilies, because those of you who know her know that she is a playwright while we're celebrating and supporting, and for those of you for whom she has a new voice, please stay tuned, and thank you. And our second winner was nominated by Annie Kaufman, Christine Jones, and Emily Simonus. And here to present the New York Women's Foundation Award is Jennifer Admi. Oh, I have to say that as a funder, we are not as cool as everyone on this stage, and it's very rare that we get to be in the presence of actually seeing the work on the ground. So at the New York Women's Foundation, we have just turned 30, which means I can say that we are officially adulting, and so we are still millennials, so we can say like and amazing. But we have, for 30 years, really invested in bold and fierce and dynamic women, and we are so excited to partner with the Lilie Awards because that is really what they're about. So the New York Women's Foundation Directing Apprenticeship Award goes to Jenny Coons. Jenny Coons is a New York-based director who specializes in bringing diverse artists together to create original cross-disciplinary work. Her most recent work was on Airness by the Lilie's own former administrator, Chelsea Marcantel, which received rave reviews at the Actors Theater of Louisville. Jenny, also Associate Directed, lists Sueto's runaways at Encore's Off Center and numerous theater for one pieces for Christine Jones. Jenny is curator of the New York City Center Encore's Off Center Originals, co-founder of Artists for Change NYC, which you all should check out later, at the National Black Theater and has joined the space writer-farm team as a curator with the mission of increasing equity and inclusion. Jenny clearly gives a lot to others, but it is my pleasure to give Jenny this $15,000 from the New York Women's Foundation to help finance time spent on her own work. Be badass. And then I ran away with her award. Choreography is everything. Please welcome Lily Board Member Stacy Mindich, producer of this year's powerful, heart-stoppingly moving Tony-nominated musical Dear Evan Hansen. The Go Write a Play Award is just that, an award to a promising female playwright to go write a play. We need more good plays, especially plays by women telling the stories of women. Now in its fifth year, I am very proud of the little club I have formed of women who are writing these plays. Tanya Barfield, Nina Bieber, Hari Shrek, Rahana Lu Mirza are now being joined by Martina Mayoke. Martina has most recently written Iron Bound, which debuted at the Women's Voices Theater and The Cost of Living, which will now open at the Manhattan Theater Club after premiering at the Williamstown Theater Festival. In addition to the $25,000 check that comes with this award, these winners are entitled to a reading of their plays at any stage of its development. Just call me. They are also required to have lunch or dinner with me, along with the previous winners. I am absolutely delighted, Martina, that the table is getting bigger and the conversation will be all the richer because you are joining us. Congratulations. It's like, I don't have to run away. You can not just take the money, you can, and the jewelry, say a few words. Okay, okay, yeah, thanks. It's really a pretty good day when Stacey Mindage and Cynthia Nixon can say my immigrant last name right. It is very great, so thank you. Since I, hi, Joe. Since I've been given a platform, I would love to thank the people who have helped me get here because it takes a village. The nurturers and the mentors, the fourth grade teachers, the public school teachers who did not have the time to help me as much as they did, but they still did. The artistic directors who, you do not fuck with Mandy Greenfields. We have learned today. That's what I'm saying, too. The people who write the letters of recommendations, the mentors, the Paula Vogel, Marsha Norman, Sarah Rule, this is great. And the actors who work give so much of their lives in time, but we're in Ireland and Katie Sullivan, who we're here to, from both iron bounding, cost of living, and of course so much for Mama Colette. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm very happy to be here. I'm very happy. I can't do anything without you. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. And now please welcome the Lily Award winning producer of InDescent written by the Lily Award winning Paula Vogel, Ms. Darrell Roth. Thank you, it's great to be here. And it's actually equally lovely to give them to receive. So I'm very happy about that. This year for the first time, I'm pleased to be partnering with the Lilies in presenting the Darrell Roth Creative Spirit Award. Now when it's 21st year, I can't believe how old I am actually, it's dedicated in honor of a gifted theater artist to provide them with support as they develop new work in an artistic residency or apprenticeship. But it's very important to encourage women to consider careers in all areas of theater. And especially design. Sometimes it's a forgotten creative challenge and we think of writers and directors and we adore them. But we thought this might be a good idea, whether it be scenic, lighting, costume or sound. So I decided this would be the focus of this award when presented at the Lilies. I'd like to thank Jane Cox for heading up the search for our recipient. And I'm very happy to announce that this year's Creative Spirit Award goes to Ari Fulton. I have something to say about this. I just want to say that Ari is a multidisciplinary artist and it's her work in design and construction of costumes that brought her to our attention. She received her MFA from NYU, where her professors praised her as one of the best, most brilliant, lovely and amazing students. So I would like to present this gift to you, which is in my pocketbook at my chair, I forgot to bring it up. But I will give it to you to help encourage and sustain you in what I trust will be a creative, productive and indeed amazing year. Congratulations. There's a second new award this year. So little audience participation here. Could everyone who has read to kill a mockingbird please raise your hands? There we go. That's every person in this room. Well, tonight we have with us the woman who along with her husband gave Harper Lee the money she needed in order to stop working for a year and write that novel. That's what I said. Please welcome Joy Brown who is bringing with her a check from George Landiger in honor of both, in honor of both Harper Lee and Joy Brown for a playwright of her choosing in the hope that by giving another great writer her time back another iconic work can be brought into the world. I love this. Thank you for being here. I wasn't quite sure what to say. And I've been thinking about this and at my great age, I began to look back and feel chance, just dumb old chance plays a big part in all of our lives. It's been apparent to me over my many years that dumb chance plays an enormous part. My husband, Michael Brown, where am I? Who's a composer and lyricist? And Nell Harper Lee became good friends when Truman Capote wrote Michael from Tangier that a shy young friend from Alabama was coming up to New York and would Michael please take care of her? The three of us became close friends. In between her erratic and debilitating schedule as a reservation clerk and an airline, she'd been writing character studies, short stories, miscellaneous observations, jumping ahead. Here is an example of a crucial chance decision that we made to go to a backers audition that we didn't want to do. But the playwright was a friend, et cetera, so reluctantly we went. We ran into Annie Laurie Williams, the playwright agent, the playwright's agent, an eccentric flamboyant woman who, with her husband, Maurice Crane, ran a successful literary agency. Annie Laurie covered plays and movies. She never failed to remind you that she handled Gone with the Wind. And Maurice, very quiet and reserved, who covered fiction and nonfiction. Michael mentioned that we had a friend who was a good writer. Annie Laurie admired my husband's talent and thus paid attention to his recommendation. Her reply, sure, send over some stuff. Our phone rang the next day after. Maurice wanted to meet Nell. He was probably the most important person in the entire evolution of Tequila Mockingbird. Dumb chance. What if we had decided to stay home that night and therefore not run into Annie Laurie? Nell Harper was a writer no matter what the circumstances. But would we have had the book we have today without Maurice's crucial guiding hand? I don't think so. Now, the reverse. Today's Harper Lee Award is not a chance event, but the direct result of a generous contribution by my friend George Landiger, who was also a friend of Harper Lee. This support will go to another young developing woman writer under the loving umbrella of the Lilly Awards. It is my honor to present this award to Christina Anderson. I want to finish and sell with that phone back. I gotta let her finish. You gotta let her finish. All right. Christina is an assistant professor of playwriting at SUNY Purchase and a three-time Susan Smith Blackburn finalist. I am overjoyed to present the Harper Lee Award of $25,000 to the very deserving Christina Anderson. Hi, everybody. Good evening. I did write a couple of things, but I gave my phone and my partner and the speeches on my phone. So I think this is a universe and dumb chance that is asking me to just speak from the heart this evening. The thing I will say is thank you so much, Julia Jordan. I don't know where you are, but that was the best phone call I've gotten in a very long time. So I thank you a great deal. About two, well, I'll say this. For a very long time, my plan B was being a lawyer. And anytime anything didn't go well, I would talk to my partner or my friends and I'd be like, well, I'm getting that LSAT book in the morning. And then about two years ago, I really did feel like I was gonna stop. I had a couple of heartbreaks and I reached out to Paula Vogel who's been a very generous friend and mentor. And she says, you always wanna quit. But you always, you always go back to it. So I asked the drama guys with every bone in my body, I said, just give me a sign if I should keep going. And they sent me my high school drama teacher, Paula Zig. And we had barbecue in my hometown of Kansas City, Kansas. And she said, you were one of the best students I had. And I don't say that as egotistical. I say that it's so generous because she was one of the best teachers I've ever had. And this whole year has been gifts of women coming to me and hugging me, buying me dinner, buying me champagne wine, buying me coffee, and then also in this glorious year of Paula Vogel receiving all of her enormous gifts for the beautiful, peace and decent, she has been generous enough to include me in some of those festivities. And in that time, I've also just met like beautiful, fantastic women artists who continue to hug and hand me glasses of champagne and wine. If you're not seeing a theme here, that's okay. And coffee. And then it came to an end with Julia with this phone call. And then it came to an illustrious end with that beautiful speech about Harper Lee. So this means a great deal to me. I hope I can live up not to the financial amount, which is awesome, but just to the sentiment of what this award means. So I thank you all very much. Thank you. Center a little bit more, come on in. I hope you will all join me in thanking the goddesses and trans gods who made all of this possible as we, well, here it is, ladies, gentlemen and everybody else, your class of 2017, the Lilly class of 2017. And their fairy godmothers. It's not only a playwriting opportunity, it's a photo opportunity, I believe. Did that happen? Okay, great. All right, I'm so moved. And it's only gonna get more moving because I get to welcome the Tony winning writer and all around fabulous human being, Lisa Crone. This is how fabulous it's about to get. I'm gonna thank some people and then I'm gonna ask you for some money. I'm gonna do these thanks really quickly first. A very special thank you to the dramatist guild which has supported these awards and the Lilly mission from the beginning. Yay, dramatist guild. Also dramatist play service for sponsoring the after party this year and last year, which is gonna be at West Bank directly after. It's the party of the season, ladies and gentlemen. So you don't wanna miss that. Thank you to the volunteers for their labor putting this event together and working on the Lilies all year long and to the board for all they contribute with work and money and ideas. And to the donors, a new dramatist based on Ryder Farm, Sarah Rule for working with the Lilies on childcare. So now is the part where I ask you for some money. I hate asking for money usually but I'm very happy to do it tonight. So what's gonna happen is that this is why I'm happy to ask for money. These people are coming down the aisle and they're gonna pass out baskets and in the baskets are cookies. And you can take your, in your programs, I think there are little forms and you can make a, if you have a check, you can put a check in there, if you wanna put cash in there, you can also just write your email if you wanna make a pledge, you can make a pledge on there. So think about the kind of organization that when asking you for money gives you cookies. Just think about, think if this basket was coming from the congressional Republicans, for instance, there would be a hand that came out of it that took away your birth control. Or grabbed by the pussy. So this is the opposite world from that. These are people who give you cookies. The other thing is, as Joy Brown said so beautifully, there is so much chance that goes with being an artist. And what the Lilies is all about is making sure that those chances are evenly distributed. That there aren't whole groups of people who don't get those chances. All of us know that that's true. All of us have seen disparities for years and years and years. I'm gonna tell you, even though you already know, what the Lily Foundation, the Lily Words Foundation has done to change that in the theater more effectively than anything that has come before. Number one, the count. So that people could see that these disparities were facts and not feelings. It's not just that we feel like we're not getting our opportunities. The numbers are there. And I have talked to artistic directors who literally did not know what their numbers were. This is making a really big difference. That's what the Lily Foundation is doing. Do you wanna support that? Yes. There's also childcare. They look really carefully on why at a certain point women dramatists drop out. It's because they don't have childcare. So they're doing something about it. Space on Ryder Farm, there are places now for women to go to write. That is incredible. It's not just feeling the problem. It's not just identifying the problem. It's doing something about it. And that's modeling the solution for the problem. That is awesome. A residency organization that I work for who sort of are thinking about this issue. I can go to them and say, look, look at what Space on Ryder Farm is doing with the Lily Foundation. That's how things are changing. Marsha Norman is not here tonight because she sacrificed her own hands for this organization. So if nothing else makes you give money, think about the fact that Marsha Norman threw herself to the ground and broke her shoulder and both her hands. All right, that's not what happened. That's not why she fell. But do we believe that Marsha Norman would break her hands to benefit women in theater? Yes, we do. And if Marsha Norman would theoretically, as we all agree, be willing to break both her hands for this organization, I think you should send those baskets back and think again and give even more money than you just did when they went by the first time. Thank you all so much. I believe we are welcoming Julia back to the stage. Yes, for some very important words. While you enjoy your cookies and not breaking your hands but giving as much as you have to give. Yes, wonderful. Okay, so I'd like to give a special thank you to Bea Shaffer and Jessica Moss who did all the heavy lifting to make tonight happen and Maggie Burroughs who directed it. And now as I'm sure you all know, every year we crown one man, Miss Lily, a man who has really made a difference for women in the theater. A man we love, a man we adore. This year, that man is the renowned composer of Wicked, Pippin, Godspell, and alongside our final Lily Award winner tonight, Mickey Grant, the co-composer of the musical Working, Steven Schwartz. We are not honoring him for all the knockdown drag out diva songs he has written for women. We are not honoring him for his musical accomplishments. He already has plenty of prizes for that. We are honoring him for something his millions of obsessive musical theater fans are not aware of. It was under Steven's tenure as president of the Dramatist Guild that we Lily started talking about doing a survey of who was actually being produced in the American theater, a big survey, the largest of its kind, and not a one shot deal but an ongoing up to date portrait of change over time, the steps forward and the steps back. Some day it will be an objective historical document but in the present it has proven to be an agent of pressure and change itself. It was Steven who talked the Guild Council into funding it. It was Steven who relentlessly kicked our asses to stop talking about our big idea and actually get it done. Steven rallied the Guild's representatives across the country from California to Nebraska and Maine to get it done. It is thanks to Steven that quite a few cages were rattled by the results and a few more women, especially women of color, have been seeing productions of their work. It is thanks to Steven that the second installment, now comprising five years of data will be published this September and it shows that we are up another five percentage points. And this is probably also news to Steven. It was under Steven's tenure that the number of women in the Dramatis Guild rose from one quarter to one half of the membership with female student members consistently, slightly outnumbering the men. I give you Miss Lily of 2017, Steven Schwartz. Thank you ladies so much. Well, I'm really happy to be here today for three reasons. First of all, I've never been missed anything before. So that's quite thrilling. I also have to say that in a pretty grueling season right now of award shows, this has to be the, whoops, my tiara, oh well. I was never that great with tiaras. This has to be the coolest to be the lone man on the stage with these amazing women. Couldn't be more thrilling. But the thing I think I'm most happy about is to reiterate a little bit of what Julia just told you. The good news is that the count has actually been effective. It's been more than just people saying, oh, you know what, that's really too bad, and then going back to business as usual. It really has changed the behavior of artistic directors. It's changed the behavior of regional theaters. Mandy, we're not anywhere near your achievement of parody yet, but we're going in the right direction. And the important thing, obviously, is not to rest on our laurels, not that these are actually laurels, but to continue the pressure so that all of us, women and men, get to enjoy the benefit of the great work of women writers and all that they have to contribute with their particular point of view and the special beauty of their writing and language. It is so exciting to see some of our wonderful new writers, I so look forward, through the years ahead to the great work I know you will produce. Congratulations to you, congratulations to everyone on the stage, and thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Lily. Now that brings us to the final award of the evening, and before I tell you about it, I also want to let you know that our Girl Scouts are going to be rising, rise, Girl Scouts rise. They're gonna defy gravity for a moment. And head out into the lobby to prepare to sell, I believe, some more of their fabulous cookies. Is that right? So we can all partake. Save me some tag-alongs, please, but we'll see you out there in the lobby. And as they exit, yay. I now get to invite up to the podium the legendary Charlene Woodard, one of my sheroes, my first theater sheroes, who is currently preparing to play Gertrude opposite Oscar Isaacs Hamlet. Come on up, Charlene. Thank you, Sarah. Mickey Grant is a legend. She wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the groundbreaking hit Broadway Musical Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. She received Tony nominations for Book and Score and Best Musical. She won the Outer Critics Award for Best Musical. She won Drama Desk Awards for her lyrics, as well as for Best Performance in a Musical. Mickey wrote the music and lyrics for another Broadway hit, Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. As well as many other shows. In fact, she wrote Working with, oh, Miss Lily over here, Stephen Schwartz, along with a host of other famous contributors. Mickey was the first African American regular on daytime television for seven years on Another World. She's a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Mickey has led the way for generations of black artists, myself included. I wouldn't be here today if I didn't get my first job when she snatched me up and put me in Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, got me my equity card. It is so fitting that we're doing this here on the same stage and set that Kirsten's Musical Bella is playing. So I am beyond honored to present the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award to our heroine, Mickey Gratz. Some years ago, well, when I was first starting out of the first getting some recognition, someone said to me, I said, well, what do you say? I didn't know what to do. I was just sort of discombobulated, as they say. They said, well, be brief. Just get up, speak up, shut up, and sit down. So I'm up, I'm speaking up. But before I shut up and sit down, I just want to, as I have over the years commend the three women who saw the void and as we all saw and did something about it, they put their heads together and established the Lily Awards. Marsha and Julia and Teresa, I just wanted to pay tribute to them and I just, over the years I've had the opportunity to work with the Guild on the boards and on committees and on panels and just hang out or hang around some very talented, fabulous, fierce women. And I'm just so proud and happy to be here tonight to join the roster of those who've gone before to be on the stage with the wonderful ones who are here tonight and to say thank you, thank you to the Lily Awards Foundation for this honor, for letting me join the roster. They say I'm a winner. I felt all these years working with all these wonderful people that I was a winner already and this just makes it official. Thank you. Please welcome Rona Siddiqui, the music director of Bella to accompany me on one of Mickey's songs. This is your song. Yes. I could have been, what I could have been, I could have been something, even what I could be had been left to me. I could have been something, the tower strength, center of power. That had done, wanted to lie, would have done a big thing and a few years. I for one am so honored to have been sponsored by Dramatist Play Service and will be right across the street at the West Bank Cafe so you don't even have to swim far to get there. The Girl Scouts are selling cookies in the lobby so you know, you get to wet your appetite a little bit before you head over to dinner because that's a great way to do that. And thank you all so much for donating to the Lily Awards and monumental women. Can't wait to see those statues and can't wait to see you at the after party. Have a beautiful night. Thank you everybody.