Five prestigious Special Awards will be presented at the Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center.
The Carbonell Awards fosters the artistic growth of professional theater in South Florida by celebrating the excellence and diversity of our theater artists, providing scholarships, and building audience appreciation and civic pride by highlighting the achievements of our theater community. More than 20 professional theater companies in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties participate in the awards process every year.
“While we will be honoring 20 specific theatre performances, production elements, and shows presented from September 2023 through August 2024, the Carbonell board of directors has voted to also bestow the following Special Awards,” said Carbonell director, Gary Schweikhart, in a press release.
John Pryor will receive the Vinnette Carroll Award for significant achievement in advancing the cause of diversity, equality, and inclusion in South Florida theater. Pryor, a director and actor, has been a valued theater professor at Miami-Dade Community College and Florida Memorial College who taught hundreds of students the joys of theater.
Marilynn Wick will be presented the Ruth Foreman Award, which recognizes contributions to South Florida theater development by an individual or group, for singular achievement and/or career contributions. Founder and CEO of The Wick Theatre & Museum Club and Costume World, Inc., her commitment to purchasing, restoring, and housing the largest collection of Broadway costumes in the world is a passion that will allow future generations to experience and cherish theatre’s brilliant legacy tangibly.
Carl Waisanen will be presented the Bill Hindman Award honoring significant, long-term contributions to the region’s cultural life and onstage career achievement by performing artists based in South Florida. He is best known for the 25 years he served as Production Stage Manager for more than 120 shows at Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables. His lengthy tenure at Actors' ended when he suffered a massive stroke during COVID.
Kermit Christman will claim the Howard Kleinberg Award honoring an individual or organization for contributions to the health and development of the arts in South Florida. Christman is the founder and artistic producing director of The Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, devoting the past 35 years to creating and running the festival.
Celebrating its 35th anniversary, Area Stage will be presented the Bill von Maurer Award for Theatrical Excellence, honoring a theater company that exemplifies excellence for the totality of its programming: productions, educational outreach, developmental programs, and audiences served.
In addition, Nilo Cruz will be presented with the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, honoring an individual (or team) who has contributed significantly to the artistic and cultural development of the region.
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT
ArtBuzz Theatrics is having a fundraiser for its upcoming season. And what better way for the company that has brought us “Bent,” “Sordid Lives,” and “Falsettos” than to do so by producing a staged reading of the titillating 1986 homoeotic two-man play, “Jerker.” ArtBuzz will have two performances of Robert Chesley’s sexually explicit tale of two men who find sex, friendship, and maybe even love through a series of 20 phone calls. Originally produced during the height of the AIDS crisis, when phone sex seemed to be the only safe sex, it garnered immediate backlash and controversy. Tickets are expected to go fast for this event, call 954-678-1496.
