It’s always good to be recognized for your work, especially when you are in the early or middle stages of your career. For Ayad Akhtar and Lucas Hnath, this can mean not only winning an award from your peers, but a cool cash prize to go along with. They were both the recipients of the 2017 Steinberg Playwright Awardson Monday night, awarded by The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Both Ayad and Lucas have a very impressive resume in their careers so far. Ayad is best known for his 2013 play Disgraced, which received a Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama and was nominated for Best Play at the 2015 Tony Awards. His other shows American Dervish, The Invisible Hand and The War Within.
Orlando born Lucas Hnath has also been riding on quite the incredible year in 2017. He wrote A Doll’s House: Part 2, which earned Laurie Metcalf the win for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. He is also known for his play Red Speedo, which won him the 2016 Obie Award for playwriting.
Some of the fellow theater talents who took to the stage during the ceremony included Aasif Mandvi, Steven Pasquale, Matthew Rauch, Jayne Houdyshell , Rajiv Joseph, Julie White, and Lena Hall.
Both Ayad and Lucas received a $50,000 cash prize to go along with their handsome reward, proving that authentic talent really does pay well.
For more information about The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, check out their official website.