The 48th Annual AUDELCO Awards were celebrated via virtual broadcast on November 30. The online ceremony was co-hosted by LaChanze, Tony Award winner for The Color Purple , Tony nominee for Once on This Island and Summer, and 2019 AUDELCO Viv Award for Lead Actress in a Musical recipient for The Secret Life of Bees, and Roger Guenveur Smith, AUDELCO award winning actor, best known for his The Huey P. Newton Story and as Smiley in Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing.
This year’s special AUDELCO Awards include Lifetime Achievement Awards for André De Shields and Voza Rivers; Pioneer Awards for Vivian Reed and Oz Scott; Outstanding Achievement Awards for Blair Underwood and Tina Fabrique; Legacy Awards for Robert Hooks and Vinie Burrows; and a Special Achievement Award to Kara Young.
Below are the speeches of Special AUDELCO Award winners.
D-Black presented the Special Achievement Award to Kara Young.
Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winning Hadestown star André De Shields received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sonia Sanchez read a poem and honored Lifetime Achievement Award winner Voza Rivers.
Petronia Paley presented the Legacy Award to Vinie Burrows.
Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Ty Jones presented Blair Underwood with the Outstanding Achievement Award.
Alyson Williams presented the Outstanding Achievement Award to Tina Fabrique and performed her new hit song, “Summer Nights in Harlem”.
La Chanze presented the Outstanding Pioneer Award to Vivian Reed.
Trezana Beverley paid tribute to Outstanding Pioneer Award winner Oz Scott.
Woodie King, Jr. presented the Legacy Award to Robert Hooks.
Click below to read about the winners.
Watch the entire Awards ceremony below.
The AUDELCO (Audience Development Committee, Inc.) is an organization that acknowledges and honors Black Theatre and its artists in New York City. It was established and incorporated in 1973 by Vivian Robinson (1926-1996), to stimulate interest in and support of performing arts in black communities. The annual Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition, “The VIV”Awards are the only formally established awards presented to the black theatre community.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman. She stars in and served as Executive Producer for the short independent films Hide and Seek, Balancing Act, Rom-Com Gone Wrong, Belongingness andWhen the World was Young. She is also the Executive Producer for The Cactus, The Language Lesson, The Writer and Cream and 2 Shugahs.
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 