|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Gary Schweikhart, president of the Carbonell Awards, today announced that “South Florida’s Theater & Arts Honors” is seeking nominations for up to seven Special Awards that will be presented at the 48th annual Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m. at FAU’s University Theatre in Boca Raton.
The Carbonell Special Awards include:
** The Vinnette Carroll Award for significant achievement in advancing the cause of diversity, equality, and inclusion in South Florida theater.
Previous winners of this award include director, actor, and college educator John Pryor (2024); Christina Alexander & Katie Christie, for leading the South Florida Theatre League’s AntiRacism Theatre Strategies Cohorts (2023); and Marshall L. Davis, who served for nearly 40 years as managing director of the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center (AHCAC) in Miami’s Liberty City (2022).
** The Charlie Cinnamon Award honors an individual who contributes significantly to the support of the arts in South Florida and to the Carbonell Awards program.
Previous Cinnamon Award winners include veteran reviewer and founder of FloridaTheaterOnStage.com Bill Hirschman (2023); longtime critic and Carbonell judge Hap Erstein (2022), the Broward Center’s Director of Marketing Jennifer Sierra-Grobbelaar (2019); Tony Finstrom, playwright and founder of the Silver Palm Awards, (2018); and longtime arts patron and Carbonell judge Jerome J. (Jerry) Cohen (2017).
** The Ruth Foreman Award recognizes contributions to South Florida theater development by an individual or group, for singular achievement and/or career contributions.
Recent Foreman Award winners include Marilynn Wick, Founder and CEO of The Wick Theatre & Museum Club and Costume World, Inc. (2024); the Maltz Jupiter Theatre (2023); actor, producer, director, poet, and educator Teresa María Rojas (2022); The Amparo Experience (2020); Juggerknot Theatre Company for Miami Motel Stories (2019); Nicole Stodard for the GAP Play Reading Series at Thinking Cap Theatre (2018); and Florida Children’s Theatre (2016).
** The Bill Hindman Award honors significant, long-term contributions to the region’s cultural life and onstage career achievement by performing artists based in South Florida.
Recent Hindman Award winners include longtime stage manager Carl Waisanen (2024); James Samuel Randolph, theatre professor at New World School of the Arts (2023); actor and Actors’ Equity Association representative Margot Moreland (2022); actors Barbara Bradshaw (2020) and Harriet Oser (2015); and veteran performer Don McArt (2013).
** The Howard Kleinberg Award honors an individual or organization for contributions to the health and development of the arts in South Florida.
Recent Kleinberg Award winners include Kermit Christman, Founder & Artistic Producing Director of the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival (2024); actor, director, playwright, and producer Ronnie Larsen (2023); Andie Arthur, playwright, dramaturg, co-founding Artistic Director of Lost Girls Theatre, and Executive Director of the South Florida Theatre League (2022); Deborah Margol with the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs (2018); longtime critic and Carbonell judge Christine Dolen (2015); and Iris Acker, actor, director, author, talk show host, and Carbonell judge (2014).
NEW
** The Jan McArt Award for significant achievement by a small theatre. This new Special Award is named after the “First Lady of South Florida Theater” who helmed several local theaters including the popular Royal Palm Dinner Theatre in Mizner Park.
** The Bill von Maurer Award for Theatrical Excellence honors a theater company that exemplifies excellence for the totality of its programming: productions, educational outreach, developmental programs, and audiences served.
Previous von Maurer Award winners include Area Stage (2024); Slow Burn Theatre Company (2023); Theater Lab (2022); Palm Beach Dramaworks (2020); City Theatre (2015); Maltz Jupiter Theatre (2011); and Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre (2007).
How to Submit Nominations for Carbonell Special Awards 2025
Before July 11, please email nominations to: gary@pr-bs.net and put “Carbonell Nomination” in the Subject Line. In your submission, please include:
** Nominee’s name
** Name of the Special Award for which you are making a nomination
** Why you believe he/she/they are worthy of consideration for this particular Special Award.
The Carbonell Awards Board of Directors will review all nominations before selecting which Special Awards to present this year and each recipient. The Board can choose from the list of submitted nominations or add other names for consideration. In addition, the Board can consider any nominee for any award – not necessarily just the one for which he/she/they have been nominated. The winners of the 2025 Carbonell Special Awards will be announced in August.
The Carbonell Awards announced last month that this year’s recipients of the prestigious George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts are William Hayes & Sue Ellen Beryl, the co-founders of Palm Beach Dramaworks, which just completed its 25th season in downtown West Palm Beach producing Theatre to Think About.
In September, the Board will announce this year’s 120 Carbonell Award finalists in 20 competitive categories based on accumulated scores from the nonprofit organization’s pool of nearly 50 experienced and diverse volunteer judges—with seven judges from various counties assigned to each show.
This season’s Carbonell Awards will be presented at a glittery ceremony on November 17 that is South Florida’s version of Broadway’s Tony Awards®. Hundreds of actors, musicians, performers, writers, directors, back-stage technicians, producers, reviewers, designers, specialty artists, and diehard theater fans are expected to attend the event that is being produced and directed by Andrew Kato, Producing Artistic Director/Chief Executive of the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, with the award-winning Caryl Fantel serving as Music Director. Tickets for the ceremony and after party are only $45 and will go on public sale in mid-September.
About The Carbonell Awards:
The Carbonell Awards fosters the artistic growth of professional theater in South Florida by celebrating the diversity of our theater artists, providing educational scholarships, and building audience appreciation and civic pride by highlighting 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. The Carbonell Awards also celebrate the accomplishments of local artistic leaders by presenting several Special Awards.
Along with New York’s Drama Desk and Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards, the Carbonell Awards are among the nation’s senior regional arts awards and predate others, including Washington, D.C.’s Helen Hayes Awards. The Carbonell Awards are named after Manuel Carbonell, an internationally renowned sculptor, who designed the original solid bronze and marble award in 1976. The signature trophy is given annually to all Carbonell Award winners. Over nearly a half-century, the Carbonell family has donated more than $250,000 in awards. For more information, please visit www.carbonellawards.org.
