Selected companies, including the Des Moines Community Playhouse, Des Moines Onstage, Iowa Shakespeare Experience, Repertory Theater of Iowa, StageWest, Tallgrass Theatre and Goldfinch Theater Company, will be recognized in one dozen categories including acting, stagecraft and production. They will receive their awards in August at the Des Moines Social Club, which Leachman, who is a Des Moines native, has been invited to attend. The Register reports that the award program may expand in future seasons.

Leachman made her Broadway debut in 1948's Sundown Beach. Her stage credits also include South Pacific, As You Like It, The Crucible and A Touch of the Poet. She received an Academy Award for her performance in "The Last Picture Show" and has appeared in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Phyllis," "Young Frankenstein," "Raising Hope," "Malcolm in the Middle" and "The Facts of Life."