Tony Award Winning Author to Address 2021 Graduates at Commencement

Nearly 800 students will be part of Marywood University’s annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 15, 2021. This year, Marywood will celebrate graduates at four separate commencement ceremonies, each taking place on the University’s campus.

Marywood University’s three colleges, including the College of Health and Human Services, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Professional Studies, will confer nearly 800 degrees to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students who hail from 31 states and 6 countries.

Social work, physician assistant studies, and nutrition are the top graduate level degree granting programs. Nursing, business administration, and architecture are the top undergraduate level degree granting programs.

Stephen Karam, Tony Award-winning author of The Humans, Sons of the Prophet, and Speech & Debate will be the principal speaker at Marywood University’s Commencement Ceremony on May 15, 2021.

For his work, Mr. Karam has received two Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, an OBIE Award, and is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He recently directed his first feature film, a rethought version of The Humans for A24 films, which will be released in 2021. He wrote a film adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, starring Annette Bening, which was released by Sony Picture Classics. His adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard premiered on Broadway as part of Roundabout’s 2016 season. 

Recent honors for Mr. Karam include the inaugural Horton Foote Playwriting Award, the inaugural Sam Norkin Drama Desk Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League Award, and Hull-Warriner Award.

Mr. Karam teaches graduate playwriting at The New School, N.Y, and is a graduate of Brown University. He grew up in Scranton, Pa.