The Robert Chesley Awards for Lesbian and Gay Playwriting honor the memory of playwright Robert Chesley (1943–1990), the author of Night Sweats, which in 1984 became the first produced full-length play to deal with the AIDS crisis.

For many years, these awards were presented at our awards ceremony, and a list of those winners is presented below. After the Publishing Triangle’s 2007 awards ceremony, the Robert Chesley/Victor Bumbalo Foundation, the administrator of these awards, took its awards program in another direction, one that no longer involved a public presentation.

The Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation has continued to support playwrights of queer theater. These days it honors writers whose work is making a substantial contribution to LGBTQ culture via providing a residency at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. For more information visit www.chesleyfoundation.org.

During the years the Chesley Awards were presented in conjunction with the Publishing Triangle Awards, the Chesley/Bumbalo Foundation gave prizes under various names, including for emerging writers and Lifetime Achievement. The winners in this era were:

2007

Lifetime Achievement, Eric Bentley
Emerging Playwright, Chris Weikel

2006

Playwriting, Kathleen Warnock
Playwriting, Megan Terry

2005

Lifetime Achievement, Michael Kearns
Emerging Playwright, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas

2004

Playwriting, Rebecca Ranson
Playwriting, Jane Shepard

2003

Playwriting, H.M. Koutoukas
Playwriting, Rev. Alvin Carmines Jr.

2002

Emerging Talent, Christopher Shinn
Emerging Talent, Shelia Callaghan

2001

Lifetime Achievement, María Irene Fornés

2000

Playwriting, Jeff Weiss

1999

Playwriting, Madeleine Olnek

1998

Playwriting, Chay Yew

1997

Playwriting, Paula Vogel

1996

Lifetime Achievement: Robert Patrick
Lifetime Achievement, Susan Miller

1995

Playwriting, Victor Lodato

1994

Playwriting, Lisa Kron
Lifetime Achievement, Doric Wilson