Join PlayGround in welcoming Lydia R. Diamond, Chicago Gala Honoree!

A playwright, a mother, and a professor walk into Osteria Via Stato. Punchline? They’re the same person! The server wonders if she’ll order pasta, assign a play to read, or pitch her next Broadway show—and the Chicago Honoree at this year’s September 15 One PlayGround Gala Lydia R. Diamond has the brilliance to do all three. Fine Italian dining and a critically acclaimed creative in the same night—it doesn’t get better than this.

In April of 1969, Lydia Diamond was born Lydia Gartin in Detroit, Michigan and was raised primarily by her mother, a musician. Growing up in an artistic household meant creativity was always close at hand. Drama club in high school sparked her love for performance, and later, at Northwestern University, she discovered her gift for playwriting–winning the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Award for her very first play–commencing her award winning streak. 

After graduating with a B.A. in Performance Studies in 1991, Lydia founded Another Small Black Theatre Company With Good Things To Say and A Lot of Nerve Productions (I know that’s right!). She boldly put her own plays on stage in Chicago. In 1996 she married John Diamond and by 2004, after the birth of their son, Baylor, the family relocated to Boston. There, Lydia began carving out her national reputation. Her adaptation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye was produced, followed by Diamond’s own Voyeurs de Venus, cementing her voice as one that examines beauty, race, and identity with nuance and courage. 

Her career only expanded from there. Stick Fly, produced by Alicia Keys, played on Broadway from 2011-2012. The Bluest Eye was staged at the Guthrie Theater in 2017, and her plays—including The Gift Horse, Toni Stone, Smart People, Voyeurs de Venus, Harriet Jacobs, The Inside, and Stage Black—have been produced at major theatres across the country: Steppenwolf, Arena Stage, The Huntington Theatre, Writers Theatre, Company One, the Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Stage, McCarter Theatre Center, American Conservatory Theatre, The Guthrie, Milwaukee Rep, and many more.

Additionally, Diamond has taught at DePaul University, Loyola University, Columbia College Chicago,  Boston University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she is now an Associate Professor of Playwriting. She has held fellowships and residencies with Harvard’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute, the Sundance Playwriting Lab, the Radcliffe Institute, and the National Endowment for the Arts/TCG, among others. 

Her awards include the Horton Foote Playwriting Award, Joseph Jefferson Award, LA Drama Critics Circle Award, Kilroy’s List, and a nomination for a Writer’s guild Award for her work as a consulting Producer and writer on Showtime’s The Affair. She has also written for NBC, HBO, HBOMAX, and Hulu. 

Today, Lydia Diamond stands as one of the most significant American playwrights of her generation—an artist whose work centers underrepresented voices, adapts vital narrative, and never loses its nerve (wink, wink). A playwright, a mother, and a professor walk into Osteria Via Stato. The joke may land in a single line, but the story of Lydia Diamond continues to unfold on stages across the nation. 

Other featured honorees in their respective cities include: Mia Chung (New York), Philip Kan Gotanda (San Francisco), and Steve Yockey (Los Angeles).

The Gala will take place Monday, September 15th at 7pm CST. The venue location is Osteria Via Stato, 620 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654. For tickets and more information, click here.