AUDELCO “The Viv” Winners and Honorees of the 2017-2018 Season

AUDELCO in association with TRIBECA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER presented the 46th Annual Vivian Robinson AUDELCO Recognition Awards for Excellence in Black Theatre at Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York on November 19.  Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman and Kimberly Orman served as honorary co-chairs of the event.

City College Center For the Arts’ production of On Kentucky Avenue, a new original musical created by Jeree Wade and written by Adam Wade and Ty Stephens, was nominated for 10 AUDELCO Awards, taking home a total of six, the highest number of wins for the evening, including for “Best Musical.”

The cast of ON KENTUCKY AVENUE. Photo by Mojo Visuals

Classic Stage’s revival of Carmen Jones also took 5 awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, and a lead actress award for the play’s star, Anika Noni Rose.

Justin Keyes, Soara-Joye Ross, Anika Noni Rose, Erica Dorfler, Lawrence E. Street. Photo by Joan Marcus

New York Theatre Workshop’s production of Marcus Gardley’s The House That Will Not Stand won 3 awards including Best Play for Marcus Gardley (tie with A Small Oak Tree Runs Red by LeKethia Dalcoe), Lead Actress in a Play for Harriett D. Foy  and Best Featured Actress in a Play for Joniece Abbott-Pratt.

Michelle Wilson, Nedra McClyde, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Lynda Gravatt, Marie Thomas, Harriett D. Foy and Juliana Canfield. Photo by Lia Chang

AUDELCO was established and incorporated in 1973 to generate more recognition, understanding and awareness of the arts in African-American communities; to provide better public relations and to build new audiences for non-profit theatre and dance companies.

LIGHTING DESIGN 
Adam Honore (Carmen Jones)

SET DESIGN
Chris Cumberbatch (Harriet’s Return)

COSTUME DESIGN
Carolyn Adams (Two Trains Running)

SOUND DESIGN
Luqman Brown (The Peculiar Patriot)

Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Photo by Lia Chang

DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Paradise Blue)

DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Lee Summers (On Kentucky Avenue)

PLAYWRIGHT
Dominique Morisseau (Paradise Blue)

Dominique Morisseau at The Drama Bookshop in New York on May 7, 2018. Photo by Lia Chang

FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Gil Tucker (A Soldier’s Play)

Gilbert Tucker as Sgt. Vernon C. Waters in A SOLDIER’S PLAY. Photo by Kamoier Williams.

FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Joniece Abbott-Pratt (The House That Will Not Stand)

Joniece Abbott-Pratt. Photo by Joan Marcus

LEAD ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Ty Stephens (On Kentucky Avenue)

Ty Stephens in ON KENTUCKY AVENUE. Photo by Matt Peyton

LEAD ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL 
Anika Noni Rose (Carmen Jones)

David Aron Damane, Anika Noni Rose, Clifton Duncan. Photo by Joan Marcus

FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Count Stovall (On Kentucky Avenue)

FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL 
Andricka Hall (On Kentucky Avenue)

OUTSTANDING MUSICAL DIRECTOR (TIE)
Shelton Becton (Carmen Jones)
Richard Cummings, Jr. (On Kentucky Avenue)

CHOREOGRAPHY
Bill T. Jones (Carmen Jones)

Francois Battiste, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Keith Randolph Smith & Kristolyn Lloyd. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE (TIE)
Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre Company)
Sugar in Our Wounds (Manhattan Theatre Club)

Tiffany Rachelle Stewart as Mattie, Chinaza Uche as Henry (rear), Stephanie Berry as Aunt Mama, and Sheldon Best as James. Photo by Joan Marcus

SOLO PERFORMANCE
Sharon Washington (Feeding the Dragon)

Sharon Washington. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

LEAD ACTOR IN A PLAY
David Roberts (Josh: The Black Babe Ruth)

LEAD ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Harriett D. Foy (The House That Will Not Stand)

Harriett D. Foy and Michelle Wilson. Photo by Joan Marcus

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Carmen Jones (Classic Stage Company)

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY (TIE)
A Soldier’s Play (Negro Ensemble Company)
The Old Settler (Billie Holiday Theatre)

Warner Miller, Denise Burse, Pauletta Pearson Washington and Maechi Aharanwa. Photo by Lia Chang

BEST MUSICAL
On Kentucky Avenue (Wade & Wade Productions/City College Center for the Arts)

BEST PLAY (TIE)
A Small Oak Tree Runs Red (Billie Holiday Theatre)
The House That Will Not Stand (New York Theatre Workshop)

Nedra McClyde, Juliana Canfield, Harriett D. Foy and Joniece Abbott Pratt. Photo by Joan Marcus

GRACE JONES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Arthur French
Melba Moore

SPECIAL PIONEER AWARD
Irene Gandy
Cheryl Wills

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Savion Glover
Timothy D. Stickney

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AWARD
Tad Schnugg
Gertrude Jeannette

Tad Schnugg, André and George Faison backstage at Yale’s Rep’s production of SEVEN GUITARS on December 1, 2016. Photo by Lia Chang

RISING STAR AWARD
Chinua Baraka Payne

AUDELCO SPECIAL HONOR
CELEBRATING THE  40TH ANNIVERSARY OF AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’

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 is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. 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 and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.

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