Joe DiPietro, the 1997 Inge Festival Otis Guernsey New Voices in the American Theatre Award recipient, won three Tony awards for "Memphis": Best Musical, Best Book to a Musical and Best Music/Lyrics to a Musical (as a co-writer of the lyrics.). Patrons on the 2009 Inge Broadway tour group enjoyed lunch at Sardis with Joe, who at the time was working on pre production of "Memphis." This July the 2010 tour group will see the show.

Marian Seldes, a two-time guest artist to the Inge Festival, was awarded a much-deserved Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, for her celebrated career on the stage. She is a long-time supporter of the Inge Festival and has had lunch with the Inge's Broadway tour group on several occasions.

And attendees of the 2010 Inge Festival will recognize the work of Daryl Waters, who shared a Tony for his orchestrations for "Memphis." Waters did the orchestrations for "A Civil War Christmas," the Paula Vogel musical that was the opening performance of the 2010 William Inge Theatre Festival.