Meryl Streep to Receive Monte Cristo Award

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center will honor Meryl Streep with its 14th annual Monte Cristo Award at a ceremonial dinner on April 21. The award is presented each year to a prominent theater artist in recognition of a distinguished career exemplifying Eugene O'Neill's "pioneering spirit, unceasing artistic commitment, and excellence." Past recipients of the Award include Christopher Plummer, Michael Douglas, James Earl Jones, Harold Prince, Kevin Spacey, Neil Simon, Jason Robards Jr., Edward Albee, August Wilson, Zoe Caldwell, Brian Dennehy, Karl Malden, Arthur & Barbara Gelb, and Wendy Wasserstein.

Throughout her illustrious career, Streep has earned 18 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and 28 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight. She made her Broadway debut in 1975 in Trelawny of the "Wells", going on to appear in four other Broadway productions including A Memory of Two Mondays/27 Wagons Full of Cotton (Tony nomination), Secret Service, The Cherry Orchard, and Happy End. Streep has also appeared in several New York Shakespeare Festival productions including Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and Mother Courage and Her Children.

The guests set to attend this year's event include Michael Douglas (2012 Monte Cristo Award honoree), Catherine Zeta-Jones, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Nathan Lane, Judith Light, Robert Lopez, John Patrick Shanley, Joe Grifasi, Brian Dennehy, Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen, Susan Blackwell, William Ivey Long (chair of American Theater Wing and Tony-winning costume designer), Alvin Epstein (founding artistic director of Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theater), Pam Arciero, Carmen de Lavallade, Betsy Parrish, Richard Bey, Alma Cuervo, Ken Ryan, and Marcell Rosenblatt, among other members of the New York theater community.