Brittany K. Allen and Anterior Leverett Awarded 2026 Hansberry-Lilly Fellowships

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The Fellowship was created in honor of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry.

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The Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF), in partnership with The Lillys, have announced graduate students Brittany K. Allen and Anterior Leverett as the 2026 recipients for the Hansberry-Lilly Fellowship. The Fellowship was created in honor of the playwright Lorraine Hansberry , as part of the Lillys’ mission of celebrating, funding, and fighting for women by promoting gender and racial parity in the American theater.

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This is a $25,000 yearly stipend that is awarded to two women or female identifying playwrights of color currently enrolled or accepted into a MFA degree program in playwriting, for the duration of their matriculation for up to three years. This award is a need-based scholarship to both acknowledge and combat the financial disparity based on gender and identity. The funds are awarded to be used to support any cost of living expenses that are not covered in other scholarships, subsidized tuition, or fellowship monies. This scholarship provides three years of protected time for the recipients to write, work with collaborators, and benefit from the guidance and input of mentors that will endure through their careers.

Brittany K. Allen will begin her graduate studies at Julliard and Anterior Leverett will be pursuing an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University this Fall.

This year’s recipients were selected by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actress Eboni Booth . “I was so inspired by Brittany and Anterior's work.” Booth shared. “Their voices are so alive, their theatrical concerns so immediate, their dive into the complexity of human relationships so complete. It was the best thrill to encounter these two writers exploring what it means to be human during these chaotic, fragile times. I'm grateful for their contributions to American theater.”

The fellowship was developed as part of the Lorraine Hansberry Initiative, under the leadership and vision of Julia Jordan and Lynn Nottage . Past recipients of the Hansberry-Lilly Fellowship are Charlene Adhiambo and Amy B. Tiong (2025), Darrin Terpstra and Morgan Webber-Ottey (2024), and Amalia Oliva Rojas and Danielle Stagger (2023).

Brittany K. Allen is a Brooklyn-based writer and actor. Her plays have been produced and developed by Manhattan Theatre Club, Clubbed Thumb , Ensemble Studio Theatre , WPLab, Portland Center Stage, Jungle Theater, Studio Theatre, and KC Rep, among other places, and her radio plays and podcasts have been produced by Audible/Fresh Produce Media and Playing On Air. She currently holds commissions from Playwrights Horizons, The Civilians /NYSCA, and Portland Center Stage, and is an alumna of EST/Youngblood, the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater , and the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages. Awards include the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, the Dramatists Guild Foundation Comedic Playwriting Prize, recognition on the Kilroys List, and a Van Lier New Voices Playwriting Fellowship via the late Lark. Her writing life has been supported by fellowships to Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Ucross, as well as scholarships to Bread Loaf and the Sewanee Writers Conference. She periodically teaches on the playwriting faculty at the latter, and is a resident playwright with Colt Coeur .

Anterior Leverett is a playwright, performer, and scholar-artist based in New York. Hailing from Savannah, GA, she received her B.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Kennesaw State University and an M.A. in Africana Studies from Georgia State University. During her studies, Anterior was fortunate to develop her craft as a performer (Ruined, In the Red and Brown Water), director (In the Blood, 365 Days 365 Plays, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992), and playwright (A Work of Art, Hearts on the Sidewalk, Eyes on the Street). After receiving her degree, she began working as a performer and writer for the Atlanta History Center. She continued to hone her writing as a member of the 2018/2019 Horizon Theatre AppCo (Sinking Further, Paula’s Playground, I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer). She is a Working Title Playwright Rosalind Ayers-Williams Scholarship Recipient for 2023-2025, a member of the 2023/2024 Alliance Theatre Lead Reiser Artist Lab, and a 2024 SheATL Finalist. Her play Yanni Stone & the Honeypot Trap was selected for the 2022/2023 Synchronicity Theatre Stripped Bare New Play Incubator Project, a Hush Harbor Lab Workshop Development, and a National Black Theatre Micro Development Lab. Anterior is a current member of the 2028 Columbia University Playwriting cohort.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/industry/article/Brittany-K-Allen-and-Anterior-Leverett-Named-2026-Recipients-of-The-Hansberry-Lilly-Fellowship-20260611)._