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Broadway Playwrights Jeremy O. Harris & Matthew Lopez To Receive HRC’s LGBTQ Equality Award

Greg Evans

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Broadway playwrights Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play) and Matthew Lopez (The Inheritance) will be honored by the Human Rights Campaign with each receiving this year’s HRC Equality Award.

HRC, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, announced the honors today. The awards will be presented at the 19th Annual HRC Greater New York Gala on Saturday, February 1.

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“Jeremy O. Harris’s brilliant Slave Play is a compelling and raw exploration of race, sex, gender and identity,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “A vital voice for the LGBTQ community, Harris constantly challenges us to rethink the power dynamics within all of our relationships and how our shared past influences our present struggle for justice. We are honored to award Jeremy O. Harris with our Equality Award for his work on and off Broadway.

“Matthew Lopez’s sweeping, groundbreaking play The Inheritance tells the important story of LGBTQ life in the 21st century, while paying homage to our rich, diverse history,” David continued in the statement. “For telling this story so powerfully, and for his contributions to the LGBTQ community, it is a true honor for HRC to present Matthew Lopez with the Equality Award.”

Slave Play, which moved from Off Broadway to Broadway and ended its limited run Jan. 19, was one of the year’s most talked about productions, a comedy-drama in which several interracial couples, both straight and gay, underwent an experimental form of therapy involving role-playing of Old South stereotypes. Read Deadline’s review here.

The Inheritance, currently playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, reimagines E.M. Forster’s Howards End as the story of a group of gay men in 21st Century Manhattan. Read Deadline’s review here.

The playwrights join previously announced HRC honorees Naomi Campbell, Global Advocacy Award recipient; Kristin Chenoweth, the Ally for Equality Award; and PVH Corp., receiving the HRC Corporate Equality Award.

The 2020 HRC Greater New York Gala is set for Saturday, February 1, at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.

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