O'Neill Theater Center to Honor Lin-Manuel Miranda with Monte Cristo Award April 30 in New York

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center will present multi-discipline creative artist Lin-Manuel Miranda with the 18th annual Monte Cristo Award.  An alumnus of the O’Neill, Miranda’s first professional production was at the O'Neill's National Music Theater Conference with In The Heights in 2005. A gala dinner featuring a conversation with the honoree will be held at the Edison Ballroom (New York) on Monday, April 30, 2018.

“Lin-Manuel’s pioneering spirit continues to transform the American theater landscape since he first launched and developed his In The Heights at the O’Neill in 2005, and through every endeavor he undertakes.  Not since Eugene O’Neill has there been someone who so firmly plants American theater in the cultural landscape of this nation, and worldwide. We are delighted to recognize him with our 2018 Monte Cristo Award,” said Preston Whiteway, Executive Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

“The O’Neill is a place I will always hold near to my heart. It’s a great honor to receive this award and to continue to work with the O’Neill to raise money for scholarships so that more and more artists can benefit from the teachers and mentors and the space they create,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The Miranda Family Fund provides scholarships for National Theater Institute students to further the inclusion of artists of color across all disciplines of theater.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning composer, lyricist, and performer, as well as a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award recipient. His current musical, Hamilton - with book, music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda, in addition to him originating the title role - opened on Broadway in 2015. Hamilton was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and earned a record-breaking 16 Tony Nominations, winning 11 Tony Awards including two personally for Mr. Miranda for Book and Score of a Musical. The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton won the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

Mr. Miranda’s and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ first Broadway musical, In the Heights, received four 2008 Tony Awards (including Best Orchestrations, Best Choreography and Best Musical), with Miranda receiving a Tony Award for Best Score, as well as a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In the Heights also took home a 2009 Grammy Award for its Original Broadway Cast Album and was recognized as a Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. In 2016, Miranda won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music for the Original London production of In The Heights. In The Heights was developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Conference in 2005.

Mr. Miranda is the co-composer (with Tom Kitt), and co-lyricist (with Amanda Green) of Broadway’s Bring it On: The Musical (2013 Tony Nom., Best Musical, 2013 Drama Desk Nom., Best Lyrics). He contributed new songs to the revival of Stephen Schwartz' Working and Spanish translations for the 2009 Broadway Revival of West Side Story. In 2014, Mr. Miranda received an Emmy Award with Tom Kitt for their song, “Bigger” from the 67th Annual Tony Awards. Mr. Miranda contributed music, lyrics and vocals to several songs in Disney’s feature film Moana which earned 2 Oscar nominations in 2017, including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for Mr Miranda’s, “How Far I’ll Go.”

Mr. Miranda played Charlie Kringas in the 2012 City Center Encores! production of Merrily We Roll Along and can be heard on the 2012 Cast Recording released by PS Classics. He also appeared in the 2014 City Center Encores! Off-Center production of tick, tick… BOOM! as Jonathan. Mr. Miranda is a co-founder and member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a hip-hop improv group. TV/Film credits: The Electric Company, Sesame Street, The Sopranos, House, Modern Family, Polar Bears, Do No Harm, Smash, How I Met Your Mother, Inside Amy Schumer, Difficult People, Hamilton’s America, Saturday Night Live (Emmy nomination. Guest Actor), Drunk History, DuckTales, BoJack Horseman, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, 200 Cartas, Speech and Debate, and Moana. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2002. He lives in NYC with his wife, son and dog.

About the Monte Cristo Award:
The Monte Cristo Award is presented to a prominent individual each year in recognition of a distinguished career exemplifying Eugene O’Neill’s “pioneering spirit, unceasing artistic commitment, and excellence,” and furthering the American theater. The gala event supports the Center’s commitment to developing new work and new artists for the stage.

Past recipients of the Award include actors Judith Light, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Nathan Lane,Christopher Plummer, James Earl Jones, Jason Robards, Jr., Zoe Caldwell, Brian Dennehy, and Karl Malden; playwrights August Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein, Edward Albee, and Neil Simon; directors Harold Princeand George C. Wolfe; and Arthur & Barbara Gelb.