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Michael Cerveris, Karen Ziemba Celebrate Stephen Sondheim Award Winner John Weidman

Richard Maltby Jr., Marsha Norman, and others were also on hand at the event.

Signature Theatre's annual Stephen Sondheim Award was presented to Broadway librettist John Weidman (Assassins, Pacific Overtures, Road Show) at a gala ceremony at the Embassy of Italy on April 4. The Sondheim Award Gala benefited Signature Theatre’s artistic, education, and community programs.

Claybourne Elder, Karen Ziemba, and Michael Cerveris celebrate at the 2016 Stephen Sondheim Award Gala.
Broadway performers Claybourne Elder, Karen Ziemba, and Michael Cerveris celebrate at the 2016 Stephen Sondheim Award Gala.
(© Margot Schulman)

Tony Award winners Michael Cerveris (Fun Home, Assassins, Road Show), Richard Maltby Jr. (Miss Saigon), Marsha Norman (The Color Purple), and Karen Ziemba (Contact) were joined by joined Donna Migliaccio, Austin Colby, Christopher Mueller, Bobby Smith, Stephen Gregory Smith, and Paul Scanlan to honor the renowned Stephen Sondheim collaborator.

Marsha Norman, Claybourne Elder, Michael Cerveris, John Weidman, and Richard Maltby Jr. raise a toast.
Marsha Norman, Claybourne Elder, Michael Cerveris, John Weidman, and Richard Maltby Jr. raise a toast.

Weidman's collaboration with Sondheim began in 1976 with Pacific Overtures and continued with Assassins in 1990 and Road Show in 2008. Weidman also collaborated with Susan Stroman on the Tony Award-winning musical Contact. From 1999 to 2009 he served as president of the Dramatists Guild of America, and he has won over a dozen Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Children's Program for his work on Sesame Street since 1986.

Karen Ziemba sings "Beyond the Sea" from Contact at the 2016 Stephen Sondheim Award Gala.
Karen Ziemba sings "Beyond the Sea" from Contact at the 2016 Stephen Sondheim Award Gala.
(© Margot Schulman)

The Stephen Sondheim Award was created in 2009 to recognize the importance of Sondheim's work to Signature and to theater in general. Past recipients include Sondheim musical veterans Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, director Harold Prince, and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick.

Signature Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer poses with John Weidman and his 2016 Stephen Sondheim Award.
Signature artistic director Eric Schaeffer poses with John Weidman and his 2016 Stephen Sondheim Award.
(© Margot Schulman)