Lynn Nottage, playwright behind ‘Ruined’ and ‘Intimate Apparel,’ wins theater’s richest award

Lynn Nottage wins theater’s richest prize

NEW YORK — Playwright Lynn Nottage better make room on her mantle — and bank account.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of such plays as “Ruined” and “Intimate Apparel” has won the 2010 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award. With a $200,000 award, it is the nation’s richest theater prize.

The award honors the artistic achievement of an American playwright whose body of work has made significant contributions to the American theater.

The award is presented every other year. It previously went to Tony Kushner in 2008.

David Emmes, who advised the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust in their pick, noted Nottage’s “unique ability to balance lyricism and unflinching honesty.”