STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Playwright James Still has been named the winner of the 2026 Stanley Drama Award for his play “Haunt Me,” Wagner College Theatre announced.
The annual national award, now in its 67th year, recognizes emerging and established playwrights and is administered by Wagner College Theatre.
The Stanley Drama Award was established in 1957 by Staten Island philanthropist Alma Guyon Timolat Stanley through the Stanley-Timolat Foundation.
Haunt Me centers on Ellery du Trent, a best-selling horror novelist who begins to disappear into the very book she is writing, assisted — and increasingly controlled — by an artificial intelligence program known as MUSE. The play blends fiction and reality in a surreal examination of identity, memory, creativity and technology, suggesting that the most frightening narrative may be one’s own life.
The first runner-up was Netta & Ru by Lisa Langford, and the second runner-up was The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House by Christian Missonak.
The Stanley Drama Award ceremony will be held Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at The Players in New York City. The event will include a staged scene from Haunt Me, directed by Wagner College Theatre professor Mickey Tennenbaum and performed by members of the college’s theatre community.
Still’s work has been produced widely in the United States and internationally, including productions in Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa, China and Japan. He is a four-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and a five-time Emmy nominee for television work. His honors include the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award from the William Inge Festival, the Todd McNerney New Play Prize from Piccolo Spoleto, the Indiana Authors Award for Drama and the American Alliance for Theatre & Education Distinguished Play Award. His plays have been developed at major institutions and festivals such as Sundance, the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference and the Colorado New Play Summit. A Kansas native, Still now lives in Los Angeles.
Netta & Ru is set in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 and follows two play-sisters whose relationship is tested against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. Langford is a Cleveland-based playwright whose work has been produced at theaters across the country. Her young adult play Sankofa is scheduled to premiere at Playhouse Square in February 2026.
The Henry Clyde Canning Murder House explores the lives of siblings grappling with the legacy of their father, a convicted serial killer, as they confront secrets tied to a notorious family property. Missonak is a New York City-based playwright originally from Chicago whose work has been produced on stage and adapted for film.
Past recipients of the Stanley Drama Award include Terrence McNally, Adrienne Kennedy, Lonne Elder III and Jonathan Larson.
Wagner College Theatre is consistently ranked among the nation’s top theater programs by The Princeton Review and is known for blending professional training with a liberal arts education.