Musical theater songwriting duo Sophie Boyce and Veronica Mansour have been named the recipients of the 21st annual Fred Ebb Award. Tony Award nominee Christopher Sieber will present the pair with the award on Dec. 1 at a private ceremony at 54 Below.
The Fred Ebb Award recognizes excellence in musical theater songwriting, by a songwriter or songwriting team that has not yet achieved significant commercial success, with the intention of encouraging aspiring musical theater songwriters to create new works. Presented annually by the Fred Ebb Foundation in association with Roundabout Theatre Company, the award is named in honor of the late composer-lyricist-librettist Fred Ebb, who won Tonys for his collaborations with John Kander on the scores of “Cabaret,” “Woman of the Year” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” The award includes a $60,000 prize.
Boyce and Mansour authored the musical “The Dark Lady,” which explores the possibility that real-life 17th century poet Emilia Bassano is the true author of Shakespeare’s works. The show was also named the 2025 Richard Rodgers Award and 2023 Eugene O’Neill National MT Conference winner. Boyce and Mansour are also working on the musical “Little Red,” which reimagines the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. The pair were also part of the 2024-2025 Dramatist Guild Foundation fellowship program. In addition to a slew of other awards and fellowships, Boyce and Mansour both hold a Master of Fine Arts in music theater writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
In addition to Foundation trustee Mitchell S. Bernard, the award selection panel comprises actor Jonathan Burke, music director David Loud and actor Maria-Christina Oliveras.
