Donna Lynn Hilton, Artistic Director of Goodspeed Musicals, will be the 2026 recipient of the Connecticut Critics Circle’s annual Tom Killen Award. This special award recognizes Ms. Hilton’s long service and achievement to theater in the state.
The award will be presented on Monday, June 22 at the 34th Connecticut Critics Circle Awards Ceremony at Hartford Stage in Hartford. The annual event celebrates and honors the state’s outstanding professional theater. The event is scheduled for 7:30-9:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Donna Lynn began her career 40 years ago as a respected stage manager of Musical Theatre and Opera. She has been a part of Goodspeed since 1988 and is in her 5th season as Artistic Director. She has a significant record of leading, developing and producing new musical theater works as well as inspiring a re-envisioning of the canon.
She is committed to prioritizing new work development and has led the creation of many of Goodspeed’s most acclaimed productions including Summer Stock, The 12, Anne of Green Gables and Maggie. At The Terris Theatre, she has led the early development of many new musicals, among them Passing Through, Private Jones, A Complicated Woman and last year’s The Great Emu War.
Ms. Hilton led the creation of The Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove, the partnership with The Johnny Mercer Foundation which has welcomed over 400 musical theatre composers, lyricists and librettists to Goodspeed’s campus for one of the premiere development opportunities available to emerging musical theatre writers. She launched Goodspeed’s first formal commissioning program – GoodWorks – which brought to life Joriah Kwamé’s Little Miss Perfect and this year will bring The Snow Goose to its World Premiere at Goodspeed
Recent Killen winners include Lauren Yarger, Jacques Lamarre, William Berloni, Kevin Connors, Michael Yeargan, Michael O’Flaherty, Paulette Haupt, Anne Keefe, and Carmen de Lavallade
