The award honors established and emerging writers for the theater. Winners of the award are currently producing work on topics ranging from basement dwelling families in the middle of the 21st century to the 19th century all-black community that faced destruction in order to create Central Park. 

Max Posner '11 is a graduate of the Juilliard playwriting program and is writer-in-residence at Williamstown Theatre in Massachusetts. His play Judy will premiere this fall at the New Ohio Theater in NYC; it is a subterranean comedy about an American family in 2040 struggling to stay connected across three separate basements when technology and communication break down.

Jen Silverman '06 graduated from the Juilliard playwriting program and won the Yale Prize for her play Still. Her playThe Roommate was just at the Humana Festival, and in the fall, the Yale Repertory Theater will premiere The Moors, a darkly comic riff about the world of the Bronte sisters. Jen also won the 2013 Yale Drama Series Prize for Emerging Playwrights for her play, Still, chosen from almost 1100 entries from 30 countries.

More information on the winners of The New York Community Trust Helen Merrill Playwright Awards 2015 here.