The Hermitage Artist Retreat Announces UK Playwright Waleed Akhtar

Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat, announced today that UK-based Olivier Award-winning playwright and actor Waleed Akhtar has been selected as the seventh recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA). This jury-selected prize, established by the Hermitage in 2021 with generous support from Flora Major and the Kutya Major Foundation, offers one of the largest nonprofit theatre commissions in the United States and the United Kingdom. Akhtar will receive a cash prize of $35,000 USD, as well as a residency at the Hermitage (Manasota Key, Florida) and a developmental workshop in a major arts capital – which for this commission will be London in late 2028.

Waleed Akhtar is an award-winning writer and actor. He won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for his play The P Word, and Most Promising Playwright at The Off West End Awards for Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan. His audio drama Mrs. Bibi was nominated for Best Play at the Tinniswood Award. He is also a recipient of a MGC Futures bursary, the Peggy Ramsey Foundation / Film 4 Playwrights’ Scheme, and was selected for the BBC Spotlight initiative. He has written for The Road Trip for Paramount+, and his short Lost Paradise was produced by the UK Film Council and played in festivals across Europe. In addition to his theatrical work, Akhtar is currently in development on several TV projects and has commissions.

• “I definitely thought it was a phishing scam when I received an email saying I’d made the list of finalists for a major award with a secret panel,”
• said 2026 HMTA winner Waleed Akhtar. “And here I am overwhelmed and so grateful at receiving the Hermitage Major Theater Award. I am beyond excited to have been chosen by such an amazing panel to create a whole new piece of work. And also now
• kind of wishing I’d responded to the email from that Nigerian Prince, too!”

“This is the second time this Hermitage commission has been presented to an artist in the United Kingdom,” added Andy Sandberg. “With a goal of bringing this initiative to London, we selected a committee of preeminent arts leaders in the UK who identified four outstanding playwrights among a wealth of worthy theatrical talent, further expanding the international reach and impact of the Hermitage and this initiative.”

• The Hermitage Major Theater Award (HMTA) was established in 2021 to recognise a playwright or theatre artist with a $35,000 commission
• to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theatre. Three distinguished finalists for the seventh Hermitage Major Theater Award include
• Olivier Award nominee
• Mohamed-Zain Dada,Azuka
• Oforka, and
• Sarah Power.
• Each finalist has been awarded a Hermitage residency and Fellowship, in addition to a cash prize of $1,500 USD.

• HMTA winners and finalists are nominated and selected by a committee of visionary and forward-thinking artistic leaders. The 2026 HMTA
• Award Committee included Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre;
• Lynette Linton, former Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre and a BAFTA-nominated director; and
• Tim Sheader, Artistic Director and Joint CEO of the Donmar Warehouse.

“Waleed dazzled us with a thrilling proposal that combines a culturally specific experience with universal scope,” said Dominic Cooke. “Having long admired his previous work for its courage, honesty, and humour, I am excited to see how he will use the generous support of the Hermitage.”

“What a pleasure it has been to be a part of this process, and be able to champion such wonderful playwrights,” added Lynette Linton. “All four finalists are such talented artists, and I am thrilled for Waleed. He is an exceptional artist, and his proposal was so exciting. I can't wait to see this play arrive on the page with Hermitage's support.”

“What an absolute pleasure to celebrate the work of Waleed, and to be able to offer him this opportunity to think, imagine, and write,” said Tim Sheader. “As a major voice on our stages, Waleed's ambition, wit, and curiosity intersect to make entertaining and provoking work, and this award creates critical time and space to allow artists like him to be their best selves.”

“Amidst four extraordinary and deserving finalists, Waleed Akhtar confirmed himself to be a passionate theater artist who impressed us all with his compelling and inspiring proposal,” said Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg. “We are honored to support Waleed as he creates this ambitious and inventive new play. I must thank our brilliant and dedicated Award Committee – Dominic Cooke, Lynette Linton, and Tim Sheader – for their passion, intelligence, and care throughout this process. I also want to congratulate Mohamed-Zain Dada, Azuka Oforka, and Sarah Power, each of whom are exceptional playwrights with bold voices and thrilling ideas.”

• In describing his intended HMTA commission, Akhtar describes the play as “a “searing dark comedy in which Rehan
• Malik has finally reached the pinnacle for any contemporary artist: a retrospective of his work in a gallery in London. It's hardly the Tate, but at least it's something.
• Until an encounter with a gritty, young artist calls into question his whole life’s work and the compromises and concessions it’s taken for
• a brown man to get there.”

This distinguished Hermitage Major Theater Award recognition is not an award for an existing work, but rather it is designed as a commission that shall serve as a catalyst and inspiration to a theatre artist to create a new, original, and impactful piece of theatre. Further, the prize is intended to bridge the connection between the Hermitage in Sarasota County, Florida – where the commission is born – and other leading arts and culture centres around the world, including New York, London, Chicago, and other notable arts capitals where great theatre is frequently developed and presented.

In the spirit of the Hermitage’s commitment to the arts across multiple disciplines, recipients of the Hermitage Major Theater Award are encouraged to create a commission that directly or indirectly represents the role and impact of art – musical, literary, theatrical, visual, dance, or otherwise – in our culture and society. As to how this will infuse Akhtar’s commission, he explains that his new play “looks directly at how art is consumed by culture and society, and how that shapes the work of an artist. We don’t ever create in a silo.” Akhtar’s dark comedy will explore “the generational clash between the trailblazers that ultimately become the orthodoxy and the new vanguard who come to tear it all down.”

• Past recipients of the Hermitage Major Theater Award include
• Madeleine George (2021), who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play
• The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence, and served as a writer and producer for Hulu’s hit series
• Only Murders in the Building. The Hermitage presented the first full-length reading of George’s new play
• The Sore Loser at New York’s MCC Theater in 2023. Theatre-maker and director
• Shariffa Ali was selected as the second recipient of the award; Ali shared an in-process presentation of her newly devised work
• Hero for an invitation-only audience in late 2023, also at MCC Theater.
• Imani Uzuri, the third HMTA recipient, is a composer, vocalist, librettist, improviser, and lyricist;
• the Hermitage collaborated with New York Theatre Workshop in 2024 to present this concert reading of Uzuri’s new musical
• Lighthouse of the Singing Birds. UK-based playwright and librettist,
• Chris Bush, the fourth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award, presented her original play
• Orlando (FL) at the National Theatre in the autumn of 2025, directed by Hermitage Artistic Director and CEO
• Andy Sandberg. Most recently, the Hermitage presented a 2026 reading of
• Naomi Iizuka’s newly commissioned play Casa de Mañana at the
• Goodman Theatre in Chicago; Naomi was the fifth winner of the HMTA. Playwright
• Anne Washburn was announced last season as the sixth recipient of the Hermitage Major Theater Award, and the Hermitage will
• present a workshop reading of her original commission in New York in autumn 2027.

• “This award is designed to be transformational for its recipients, providing not only significant funds and recognition, but also
• invaluable time, space, and inspiration at the Hermitage, plus an opportunity for these innovative theater artists to workshop and develop their original ideas,” said
• Andy Sandberg. An acclaimed director, writer, and Tony Award-winning producer, Sandberg took the helm as Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage in early 2020.
• “In addition to introducing a new work of theater to the world each year, the HMTA is a meaningful way for the Hermitage to take a further step in supporting the artistic process, offering developmental resources to these extraordinary artists and their
• new commissions.” In addition to his role at the Hermitage, Sandberg is currently directing a season of new plays in London as the Season Artistic Director of the Mainstage Season 26/27 at Riverside Studios.

• The Hermitage Major Theater Award, presented annually, is made possible with a generous multi-year gift to the Hermitage from Flora Major and the
• Kutya Major Foundation. “No one does more for the arts and the creation of new work than the Hermitage,”
• added Flora Major, founder and trustee of the Kutya Major Foundation.
• “The success of this commissioning program and its continuing expansion in the UK are further evidence that Andy and his team have established the Hermitage as a leading international arts incubator. I hope others who are passionate about the arts will support
• the important work that’s happening there. The impact and reach of the Hermitage is greater than most people realize – it’s truly unbelievable.”

In addition to the Hermitage Major Theater Award commissions, the Hermitage Artist Retreat annually awards the jury-selected Hermitage Greenfield Prize (HGP), a distinguished commission that rotates each year between the disciplines of theatre, music, and visual art. Past recipients in theatre have included Deepa Purohit (2024) Aleshea Harris (2021), Martyna Majok (2018), Nilo Cruz (2015), John Guare (2012), and Craig Lucas (2009). A new HGP recipient in theatre will be announced in early 2027.

A leading national arts incubator, the Hermitage is the only major arts organisation in Florida’s Gulf Coast exclusively committed to supporting the development and creation of new work across all artistic disciplines. The Hermitage hosts artists on its Gulf Coast Manasota Key home for multi-week residencies, where diverse and accomplished artists from around the world and across multiple disciplines create and develop new works of theatre, music, visual art, literature, dance, film, and more. As part of their residencies, Hermitage Fellows participate in free year-round community programs, offering audiences in the region a unique opportunity to engage with some of the world’s leading artists and to get an authentic “sneak peek” into extraordinary projects and artistic minds before their works go on to major galleries, concert halls, theatres, and museums around the world. These free and innovative programs include performances, conversations, readings, interactive experiences, open studios, school programs, teacher workshops, and more, serving thousands in our regional community each year.