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Meet Our Honorees
2026 Lifetime Achievement Award in Musical Theatre - Kelli O'Hara
Kelli O'Hara has been nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning for The King and I. She is also an Emmy, SAG, Olivier, and 2-time Grammy nominated artist who made history as the first to crossover from Broadway to Opera with her Metropolitan Opera Debut in 2015. Her solo concerts take her across the world. Selected film/TV credits include: The Beauty, Sheriff Country, The Gilded Age, The Accidental Wolf, and Martin Scorsese's The Key to Reserva. Most recently, she earned Tony, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for her performance in the Broadway revival of Fallen Angels. Up next, she will return in Season 4 of The Gilded Age and Season 2 of Sheriff's Country.
2026 York Theatre Founder's Award - Charles Wright
Over 28 years, Charles Wright has written 107 program notes for the York Theatre Company's beloved series Musicals in Mufti. During the pandemic, he was co-host of Show (and Tell!!), an online retrospective of milestone York productions.
While working at a New York law firm, Charles represented George Abbott in a lengthy arbitration (the sole formal legal dispute of the distinguished playwright-director's eight-decade career). Mr. Abbott encouraged him to write about theater history and, since then, Charles has contributed articles and reviews to a variety of publications.
Charles is co-president of the Drama Desk. He's currently finishing You Wonder How These Things Begin, an account of the York's first 50 years.
