JONATHAN LARSON PERFORMING ARTS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF ELEVENTH ANNUAL AWARDS

February 2007

The Board of Trustees of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation have announced that this year awards will be presented to eight individual artists and one organization:  Matt Gould, Melissa Li and Abe Rybeck, Robert Maddock, J. Oconer Navarro, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and Mike Pettry are each recipients of an individual artist award, as well as an unrestricted cash gift ranging from $3,000 to $12,000.  St. Ann’s Warehouse is the recipient of an organization award in support of a musical theatre project in development (Must Don’t Whip ‘Um by previous individual winner Cynthia Hopkins).

The awards were presented at a luncheon at the 21 Club on Thursday, February 15, 2007.  This year’s event, sponsored in part by Adelphi University, the Law Offices of Joe Gagliano, and Music Theatre International, included performances of songs written by last year recipients Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman, Lance Horne, Joe Iconis, Alison Loeb, Brian Lowdermilk and Kait Kerrigan, and Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda.  Performers scheduled to take part in the presentation include Celia Keenan-Bolger, Michael Craig, Julie Danao-Salkin, Kristin Maloney, Amy Spanger, and Michael Winther.

This year’s recipients were selected from over 200 applicants.  Applications were judged with the assistance of a panel comprised of distinguished theatre professionals Tina Landau, David Loud, Stephen Schwartz, and Tim Weil.  The awards were selected on the basis of merit and need, with particular attention to a unique voice and a dedication to the performing arts profession.

Composer/Lyricist team BENJ PASEK ('06) and JUSTIN PAUL ('06) began their collaboration as freshmen at the University of Michigan and completed their BFA degrees in musical theatre in 2006.  Their revue Edges has been performed across the country and is now available for licensing through Music Theatre International. Pasek and Paul are writers for the Disney Channel television series “Johnny and the Sprites” and contributed music to Off-Broadway’s upcoming White Noise [A Cautionary Musical] which won Talkin’ Broadway’s 2006 Summer Theatre Festival Citation for Outstanding Original Score. They are currently developing several original book musicals, one with Alexandra Cunningham, a writer and producer of the hit ABC television series, “Desperate Housewives”