July 4, 2005

News, Kleban Awards, Musical Theatre

Kleban Award Honors BMI Theatre Writers

BMI's Musical Theatre department held a cocktail party on June 20 honoring the winners of the 2005 Kleban Award. BMI composer/librettist Cheryl L. Davis, an alumna of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, was among this year's winners for her new musical, "Barnstormer."

Pictured at the Kleban Awards reception are 2001 Kleban Award recipient David Spencer; book writer Linda Kline, co-writer of Broadway's "A Class Act," based on the BMI Workshop, with music and lyrics by Edward L. Kleban; "Barnstomer" composer Doug Cohen; 2005 Kleban Award Winner Cheryl L. Davis; 2001 Kleban Award recipient Pat Cook, who serves as Artistic Coordinator of the Workshop; and BMI's Jean Banks. Photo by Gary Gershoff

The Kleban Award is given annually by the Kleban Foundation to the most promising lyricist and librettist in American musical theatre. Established in 1988 under the will of BMI composer Edward L Kleban, best known for the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "A Chorus Line," each winner receives $100,000.

The work of Cheryl L. Davis has been read and performed nationally, including at the Cleveland Play House, the Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Kennedy Center. Her play about the desegregation of our nations' school system, "The Color of Justice," received critical acclaim from the The New York Times and the Daily News, and was commissioned by Theatreworks/USA. She is currently working with composer Doug Cohen ("No Way to Treat a Lady," "The Gig") on the musical version of "Barnstormer," which also received a 2005 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award.

In this story: Lehman Engel, Jean, Kennedy, David Spencer

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