Sam Willmott and Sam Carner Awarded 25th Annual Kleban Prizes for Musical Theatre

The Kleban Foundation has announced that the 25th annual Kleban Prizes have been awarded to Sam Willmott and Sam Carner. The 2015 prizes will be presented on June 22 in a private ceremony.

Kleban Prize winners are selected by judging panels composed of theater artists and administrators. The judges making the final determination this year were Tony nominated actor Kerry Butler (Hairspray); multi-arts presenter, artistic director, creative consultant, theater producer, and manager Wiley Hausam; and Oscar winner and Tony Award-nominated composer David Shire (Big).

The Kleban Foundation was established in 1988 under the will of Edward L. Kleban, best known as the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist of the musical A Chorus Line. Kleban's will made provisions for two annual prizes, which in recent years have totaled $100,000 each, payable over two years, to be given to the most promising lyricist and librettist in American Musical Theatre.

Previous Kleban Prize winners include Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), David Lindsay-Abaire (Shrek), Jason Robert Brown (Parade), Gretchen Cryer (I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road), and more.