The National Arts Club has announced that Lauren Yee, whose play The Great Leap will debut Off-Broadway next spring, is the recipient of the 2017 Kesselring Prize for Playwriting from the National Arts Club. The prize includes a $25,000 award and the opportunity for Yee to develop her work at the historic clubhouse in New York City over two weeks.

Yee’s play The Great Leap is set to have its New York premiere at Atlantic Theater Company—which nominated the playwright for the Prize—in May 2018. The play also has productions slated for this season at the Denver Center and Seattle Rep.

Yee’s previous works include In A Word, a finalist for the ATCA/Steinberg Award; The Hatmaker’s Wife, which was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for the John Gassner Award for best play by a new American playwright; and King Of The Yees, which premiered last season at The Goodman Theatre.

The 2017 Kesselring Prize jury consisted of John Guare, Anne Cattaneo, and Lynn Nottage.

Begun in 1980 by the National Arts Club, the annual Kesselring Prize for Playwriting was established by Charlotte Kesselring in memory of her husband and long-time National Arts Club member Joseph Kesselring, author of the classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace.

For more information about the Kesselring Prize and The National Arts Club, visit TheNationalArtsClub.org or contact [email protected].

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