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News:
Olney Alum wins The Larson Award!
Abe Rybeck class of 78' has become a renowned playwright and a important theatrical figure in New England. As affirmation to his stature in the arts community, Abe has received an esteemed musical theater award for a work that premiered this spring.
Abe Rybeck and his colleague Melissa Li won a 2007 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award for their new musical, "Surviving the Nian." The Olney alum co-wrote the book for the musical with Li, the composer and lyricist. Chosen from a field of more than 200 applicants, Abe, Melissa and six other winners received their awards at a private lunch at the 21 Club in New York City on Feb. 15.
The Larson award is not the first theatrical honor that Abe has received. His previous awards include the 2006 National Foundation for Jewish Culture New Play Commission; 2004 Independent Reviewers of New England Award for career achievement; 1999 Boston Theater Award for career achievement; 1999 AIDS Action Committee Unsung Heroes Award; 1999 Greater Boston Business Council Award for Individual Excellence; 1997 City of Cambridge Peace & Justice Award and the 1989 Boston Lesbian & Gay Political Alliance Creative Leadership Award.
Abe has also created Pure PolyESTHER: a biblical burlesque (music by John Thomas), This is Not a Test (music by Dana Moser) and Blame it on the Big Banana. His plays include Immaculate Infection, (created with Brenda Cotto Escalera and Noelia Ortiz Cortés), Bombshell, and Dirt. He is the founding Artistic Director of The Theater Offensive, New England's leading gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender theatre company. Abe's work in musical theatre started as the cofounder of the gay men's street theatre troupe United Fruit Company, for which he wrote the revue I Am What I Wear. Abe is the recipient of awards from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, Elliot Norton Theater Awards, Independent Reviewers of New England, Boston Women's Fund, the AIDS Action Committee, and the Greater Boston Business Council.
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