He directed an important production of "The Persians" at the Edinburgh Festival in 1993, which articulated the play as a response to the Gulf War of 1990–91. In 1998, Sellars was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his work combining European and American cultural traditions in opera and theatre. In 2001 he was awarded the Harvard Arts Medal. In 2005 Sellars was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life."